RSF publishes list of press freedom 'predators': 'Dictators want to silence journalists'

Thibaut Bruttin, Director General and Secretary-General of the press freedom organisation Reporters Without Borders (RSF), has given an interview to France 24 about the pressures facing journalists worldwide. The conversation was released to mark the United Nations' International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists. The headline says RSF has published a list of press freedom "predators", although the source text does not describe what the list contains.

The interviewer, Eve Irvine, welcomed Bruttin to discuss the situation. He stressed that when a journalist is killed, everyone has a right to know what is being endangered. According to the source, that warning captures the central democratic dilemma explored in the discussion.

Threats to the working environment

The introduction states that journalists face lethal violence, imprisonment, political intimidation and increasingly hostile working conditions. As a result, it says, the struggle for press freedom cannot be separated from a more basic question: who controls the public's access to the truth?

The headline also quotes the view that dictators want to silence journalists. The available text gives no further detail on specific cases or on the people named on the list.