We believe that media channels should stay independent and accessible to all.

There is an increasing crackdown against those in the channels above who bring information into the public domain. Cases often reflect a lack of due legal process, subtle politicization and inherent injustice.

The freedom of the entire pipeline of evidence-based reporting is increasingly under threat. This threat applies not just to old-world media channels, but also to citizen journalists, bloggers reporting news and social media journalists.

There are a number of organisations that advocate on the part of journalists – we applaud their work.

This project seeks to broaden that good work by documenting a ‘full picture’ view of the information flow from source all the way to the public. The freedom to publish is just as important in this chain as journalistic freedom to write or report. Increasingly anti-terrorism laws are being used as an excuse to clamp down on this information flow.

We provide this information about these cases, displaying how the law, politics and technology are being used to create a chilling effect on the public’s right to know. Through education about this, we aim to ensure a future with a free press and freedom to speak out.

Through the use of specific study of some of the most complex and important cases, we work to educate and provide information to the public, NGOs and civil society, and governments. Such cases often involve intricacies that can be hard for the average time-poor journalist or analyst to unravel without a full understanding of the relevant laws, how politics interacts with the reporting of news, the adoption of new technologies, and how reporting in the modern age is conducted. We aim to bridge this gap in understanding of – and across – these domains.

Bridges for Media Freedom is a project of the not-for-profit organisation Blueprint for Free Speech.

Follow us on Twitter: @bridges4media

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