UN/UNESCO Message for World Press Freedom Day
From traditional media platforms such as radio, print and television, to newer and more and more popular social media, blogs and citizen-led reporting, journalists are increasingly at risk
Action must encompass both traditional media and the digital world, where news is increasingly produced and consumed. Bloggers, citizen reporters and social media producers, as well as their sources, face increasing threats to their safety. In addition to physical dangers, they are being targeted with psychological and emotional violence through cyber-attacks, data breaches, intimidation, undue surveillance and invasions of privacy.
Such assaults not only limit the right to freedom of expression and threaten the safety of online journalists and their sources — they undermine the ability of all people to benefit from a free and open Internet
Shafaq News:
However, the report also pointed to a marked recovery “of what has become known as new media through the emergence of a new generation of bloggers in the social networking sites could sometimes direct the Iraqi public opinion about social and political and religious issues may be banned to be discussed for public debate
Techpresident
hough Iraqi blogs have been targeted in media crackdowns before, this time, "no web sites were shut down. There was, however, a big clash on social media venues between pro- and anti-government activists, and unfortunately these clashes have lead to increased sectarian activism that silences moderate voices." As people doubt the independence of the media because outlets take up increasingly partisan stances for or against the Maliki government's policies, outlets risk becoming more polarized towards a pro-government line or towards positions espoused by the Islamist parties