HACA Head calls for preserving the role of journalism as a vector for public debate

Latifa Akharbach, the president of the High Authority for Audiovisual Communication (HACA), pleaded for international action to stop the downward spiral of journalism as a vector and space for public debate in the face of the strengthening of digital platforms as a source of information.

 Akharbach called for preserving the role of journalism, on June 19, in Bonn, Germany, during the work of the Global Media Forum organized by Deutsche Welle,

She made a notable statement during the discussion of Media perspectives on the UNESCO guidelines for the regulation of digital platforms, detailing that good democratic functioning requires preserving public debate as a means of building consensus and as a collective organization in which the journalist plays a reflexive and fundamental mediating role.

However, noted Akharbach, while they have brought new opportunities in terms of access to information and freedom of expression, social networks have also created a new space for interaction and the exercise of public speech where several practices have developed to the detriment of culture and democratic values. 

She went on to say that social media has become a digital arena where excess, hate speech, verbal abuse, the exploitation of emotion, and other things are encouraged, endangering public discourse.

While welcoming the relevance of the global consultation initiated by UNESCO on the regulation of global digital platforms, Akharbach said that “If, as UNESCO pleads, information must be restored to its status as a public good, and trusted journalism must be rehabilitated professionally and economically in the global information ecosystem”.

The German Minister of Foreign Affairs, Annalena Baerbock, and the managing director of Deutsche Welle, Peter Limbourg, gave opening remarks at the worldwide two days event, which the president of the HACA attended and which has been held yearly since 2007. 

The event’s multiple conference panels featured media and digital professionals from several continents, UNESCO officials, and information technology-focused journalists.