02RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The French investigative journalism website Mediapart has joined 26 international and Brazilian organizations defending freedom of expression, in support of the news website The Intercept Brasil. They criticize what they describe as an “intimidation campaign” against the outlet, which exposed irregularities in the Lava Jato operation.
In a collective announcement released on July 31st, the group said that the Brazilian website is the target of a wave of attacks and attempts to disrupt its representatives. In the text, headed by the NGO Reporters Without Borders (RWB), members said that since June 9th, when information on the improprieties of Lava Jato was published by The Intercept Brasil, its team, and its founder Glenn Greenwald in particular, have been victims of insults and death threats.
“We, who signed this call, believe that the attempts to disrupt and undermine the credibility of The Intercept Brasil and its media partners, regardless of their source, pose a serious threat to the freedom of information. These not only divert public opinion’s attention away from the content of the disclosures but above all emphasize the degree of the hostility of the environment in which the press operates, in particular, investigative journalists,” write the signatories. They point out that “the Brazilian Government has an obligation to ensure the protection of journalists.”
The Mediapart website, which is part of this initiative, is known for carrying out highly active and reputable investigative journalism work in France. They have been in charge of several denunciations involving politicians in the country.
The most recent of these was the public money misspending scandal targeting then French environment minister, François de Rugy, who eventually resigned. Mediapart was also behind the downfall of François Fillon, one of the right-wing’s favorite candidates for the French presidential election, who was forced to abandon his campaign after the disclosure that his wife was benefiting from a non-existent job.
Below is the list of signatories of the document in support of The Intercept website:
- Agência Pública de Jornalismo Investigativo
- Amnesty International Brazil
- Article 19 Brasil
- Asociación de la Prensa de Madrid (APM)
- Associação Brasileira de Imprensa (ABI)
- Associação Brasileira de Jornalismo Investigativo (Abraji)
- Associação dos Correspondentes Estrangeiros (ACE) de São Paulo
- Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
- Federação Nacional dos Jornalistas (FENAJ)
- Federación de las Asociaciones de Periodistas de España (FAPE)
- Freedom House
- Freedom of the Press Foundation
- Global Editors Network (GEN)
- Human Rights Watch
- IFEX
- Index on Censorship
- Instituto Vladimir Herzog
- Interamerican Press Association (IAPA/SIP)
- International Press Institute
- Intervozes
- Mediapart
- Observatório da Imprensa
- PEN International
- Reporters sans frontières (RSF)
- The Guardian
- Witness Brasil