World Press Freedom Day: Journalism martyred

World Press Freedom Day is celebrated every year on May 3. A singular day that should be celebrated, but which, throughout the world, with the exception of a few Western countries, is celebrated in a mortifying gloom. It's a gloomy mood that's deliberately created by the powers that be and the various regimes in power, and which is expressed more by the singularity of the vexations, tortures and other murders inflicted on journalists and media professionals, than by the exemplarity of their conduct towards this profession, which is the linchpin of all freedoms.

In almost every country in the world, freedoms are increasingly being curtailed, rights trampled underfoot and obligations extorted on the altar of the behemoths of repression. The latter, triumphant, display as war trophies, freedoms triturated, hopes ruined, rights oppressed. Aspirations for freedom fall like remnants of a Precambrian vault, unable to withstand the disproportionate assaults of trolls and other cybernetic tools of the disinformation factory. Powers everywhere tend to regulate the press, in order to demonstrate their distrust of this fourth power, which claims to control the first three. Journalists pay a high price for the right to inform and be informed, which is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Journalists thus become the designated scapegoats for the ills of various societies, often undermined by atypical, inappropriate, even dehumanizing policies that spoliate rights and freedoms.

Every year, May 3rd is a day of shame in most countries, when informing others becomes a crime if you refuse to take sides with the authorities in power, or if you join in with a rabble of thurifers devoted to power or its local appendages. It's a day when crimes are often washed away by pundits who no longer dare to take responsibility for their tumultuous antics, amid the ambient din of unbridled agitation sparked by end-of-reign appetites.

In our country, this day takes on a very special connotation, with the assassination of Martinez Zogo, and the enforced disappearance of Samuel Wazizi. These deeds of war have created a wind of capitulation in most newsrooms, and prompted the desperate flight of the last squadron of “fusiliers de la plume”, who thought they were doing the right thing by denouncing, however timidly, some of their society's faults. As a result, newsrooms are now witnessing a self-flagellation of spirits, a dilution of feathers in speeches that tend more and more to take up the cause of the regime in power. The stars of freedom have faded away, replaced by dark nights overshadowed by squads of sycophants in support of the ruling power. The necessities of daily survival have taken precedence over critical leadership. The veracity of the facts is sometimes twisted in the throes of an incomprehensible ritornello, creating more noise than the clarity needed for objectivity to blossom. Feathers that used to be acerbic are now tending to soften, to blend in completely with the lineage of those in power. The truth is cut and dried in the den of venality. Fairness and impartiality now lie beneath the wreckage of a slew of curiosities, overshadowed by the ever-growing expressiveness of a hired press.

Freedom of the press is under attack, robbed by gangs who think they're journalists. The latter shine more in singular hold-ups, with their pen transformed into a hoop, than in the search for the truth. This veracity has never been so much in jeopardy, even though it is ultimately the grail towards which journalists should strive.

Phantasmagorical inventions now take the place of facts. And yet, when questioned, they give off a pestilential stench, sometimes oozing warlike rhetoric. The people are thus disillusioned, even flabbergasted, by outrageous comment and analysis, often coming from those who should be considered the beacons of society. Feathers that are more wavering than bold are emerging from all quarters to chorus to the scam, the bluster and the imposture.

As a result, public opinion is plunged into the mire of fake news and other infoxes, which stifle free will and distort the information provided by the press. The latter, however, should serve as an aid to decision-making. A decision that is now being called into question, given that today's journalists no longer embody the values of accuracy and probity.

As a result, people are turning away from it, which is increasingly undermining this profession, once considered the best in the world. The journalist thus becomes the object and vector of dumbing-down, through the labeling of lies. State lies, nefarious collusion with castes embroiled in various violations of human rights, including the most imprescriptible rights. He is thus transformed into a puppet in the hands of the excavators of truth, under the guise of a broadcaster of information. It is the standard-bearer of relic lies, which end up shaping a society in the throes of decomposition. Our society is losing its bearings. Vexatious acts against the ethics and sound practice of the profession are erected as a pennant of sagacity and discernment. Criticism becomes rare and risky, while the leaden cloak of repression hangs over investigation.

The profession is invaded by a vague-à-l'âme expressive of the prevailing gloom, and it is now almost forbidden to “say nothing to harm and keep nothing quiet to please”. The cherubs of information are thus carried, through the muffled shadows of the “gumbo”, towards the heap of clouds that threaten the profession. The public has not been mistaken, as it increasingly tends to trust bloggers, influencers and other whistle-blowers. The profession is thus entering the dark tunnel of losing its reputation. This gloomy atmosphere calls into question the magnificence of the profession's best praxis, which over time has broken its wings under the caudine forks of duplicity.

TIENTCHEU KAMENI Maurice