Journalists from across the world have gathered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for a three days conference and celebrate the World Press Freedom Day.
The official celebration of the 2019 World Press Freedom Day officially kicked off at the African Union (AU) headquarters today.
The event which is being held under the theme “Media for Democracy: Journalism and Elections in times of Disinformation,” brought together more than 2,000 participants from over 95 countries.
The celebration started yesterday with a joint media forum held at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa to discuss the challenges and opportunities for the media in the age of disinformation.
In a forum, the participants underscored the need for mainstream media to be more critical of fact-checking during election periods as disinformation has been threatening the bases of African democracy.
The forum stressed the significance of critical journalism to be factually correct in an era where disinformation seems to create alternative realities and threaten the basis of democracy in Africa.
Over the past year, Ethiopia has undertaken dramatic changes to open up media and use it for promoting democracy. A lot of significant policy and a shift in practice have taken place over the past year. The government is working on drafting rules and regulations that could curb hate speech.
