Misuse of Economic Charges to Silence, Threaten and Attack the Press – Review of Case Studies

Published jointly by the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) and World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), the report focuses on economic charges – tax evasion, money laundering, blackmail, terrorism financing, fraud, and illegally receiving foreign funds – as tools to silence individual journalists and entire media outlets. “That media companies are obliged to defend their work from fair legal challenge is nothing new,” writes Andrew Heslop, Executive Director, WAN-IFRA, “[...] But when doing so becomes disproportionate, overburdensome, or simply a convenient way to censor with a veneer of legal legitimacy, it is a warning – a step towards the erosion of trust, transparency, and accountability upon which the entire system relies.” The report includes eight case studies: Abzas Media (Azerbaijan), El Faro (El Salvador), Erick Kabendera (Tanzania), Jimmy Lai (Hong Kong), José Rubén Zamora (Guatemala), Maria Ressa and Rappler (Philippines), NewsClick (India), and Nika Gvaramia (Georgia).