The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) and the World Editors Forum (WEF) They have issued a statement in defense of freedom of expression and against hoaxes. In the document, the signatories support the “social movement that demands greater cleanliness and honesty in the information that is disseminated” and at the same time denounce the “harassment of power to the media in disguise, at least this time, with the noble intention of accrediting those who spread hoaxes.”
The text emphasizes the need to “separate information from manipulation, opinion from propaganda, analysis from slander, and truth from lies,” but considers it “unacceptable,” in line with the Santiago +30 Declaration on freedom of the press, that the Government “intends to put in the same bag all those who do not agree with its actions.” For this reason, and citing the cases of the Washington Post and the New York Times in 1971 that demonstrated the lies of the US government, remember that Freedom of the press exists to “protect the governed and not the rulers”.
Those who put their publications “at the service of a party or an ideology” are not informing “but manipulating”
In this sense, both WAN-IFRA and WEF regret that some Government ministers and spokespersons for the party that supports them are “falling into what they try to avoid” and have “unsheathed the accusing finger” and pointing out as “liars and manipulators” professionals “who do not agree with what the Government does or says” and they run the risk, the writing states, “of saying so.” One of the latest cases – not the only one – has been that of the director of El Debate, Bieito Rubido, pointed out for statements about the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, in a gathering. “We want to convey all our support and affection,” they say in the statement.
Those responsible for WAN-IFRA, with its president Fernando de Yarza and its CEO Vincent Peyregne at the helm, remember that they represent 18,000 journalists and communication entrepreneurs from 109 countries who are governed by a maxim: “publish what we know to be true and not publish what we know is not true.” The signatories, including the president of WEF, Martha Ramos, consider that those who put their publications “at the service of a party or an ideology” are not informing “but manipulating”but asks the Executive not to fall into “inquisitorial intentions” behind the “honest” idea of ensuring that all information is true and reliable.”
