Reporters Without Borders (RSF) criticizes China for censoring early coverage of the coronavirus outbreak, telling CNN Business that the global pandemic could have been averted or lessened had journalists had more freedom in the country
- Strongman leaders around the world are using the coronavirus crisis to stifle journalists, a leading press freedom watchdog has warned, as it bemoaned a missed opportunity to highlight the severity of the outbreak in its early days in Wuhan, China.
It also condemned Hungarian President Viktor Orbán for securing sweeping new powers to punish journalists in the wake of the crisis, and singled out US President Donald Trump and Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro for their attempts to"denigrate the media and encourage hatred of journalists" in their respective countries.
"Sometimes we can talk about press freedom in a theoretical way, but this shows the impact can at times be physical. It can affect all of our health," she said. "Reporting the truth at the earliest possible moment would have allowed the rest of the world to react probably earlier and probably more seriously," Vincent said."The consequences are actually deadly."Norway topped the global index of media freedom for the fourth year in a row, with Scandinavian countries filling the top spots. Finland came in second, Denmark third and Sweden fourth.
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