Press Freedom during Covid-19: The Digital Discourses of the International Press Institute, Reporters Sans Frontières, and the Committee to Protect Journalists

Abstract

This study explores the ways in which global press freedom watchdogs have discursively constructed the issue of press freedom during the Covid-19 pandemic. Drawing on a multimodal discourse analysis, the study examines web stories and Tweets posted by the International Press Institute (IPI), the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), and Reporters sans Frontières (RSF), with the purpose of answering three primary questions: (1) Who or what do the CPJ, the IPI, and RSF represent as the greatest threat to press freedom in relation to Covid-19? (2) What are the differences between these groups’ representations of press freedom in their own regions of the world and their representations of press freedom in “Other” places? (3) What digital strategies do the IPI, CPJ, and RSF use in coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic? The article ultimately seeks to understand the ways in which each of these influential press freedom groups help to popularize particular understandings of press freedom in the 21st century.

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