INTERVIEW
This is probably the most insidious form of censorship in the area of press freedom. The one that comes into play when newspapers are distributed or distributed. Reporters Without Borders has addressed this thorny issue, and produces an alarming report of the situation in the 90 countries studied by the association. His secretary general commented on his report Monday morning on Europe 1.
"This is one of the blind spots when we talk about an attack on the freedom of the press," confirms Christophe Deloire, the secretary general of RSF. "There is little awareness that these attacks on freedom of the press can take place downstream.It was worth investigating.It was a staggering investigation, conducted in 90 countries.And attacks at that time many. Censors have all sorts of ideas, sometimes absurd, but they work, "says the journalist.
"Sometimes newspapers are seized, burned"
In its report, RSF points out that in 68% of the cases the authors of the obstacles to the circulation of the newspapers are the states, and 41% of the cases of censorship occur at the time of the sale. And Christophe Deloire to cite this specific example, in Madagascar, when the front page of a newspaper reported on the adulterous affair of the first lady of the country. "The authorities have bought from the newspaper sellers all copies of the newspaper, so that citizens do not have access to it," RSF secretary-general says. "But other times, newspapers are seized, burned. "
And other times, especially, censorship can take a dramatic turn. As in Mexico, where the tradition of street criers still holds good. "It has happened that a crier who reported the arrest of motorcycle thieves is simply murdered by someone to whom this information had displeased," says Christophe Deloire. "So sometimes we can find that these attacks have quite original tricks, it's often terrible in fact."