Reporters Without Borders

Reporters Without Borders (RWB) (French: Reporters Sans Frontières or RSF, Spanish: Reporteros Sin Fronteras or RSF, German: Reporter ohne Grenzen or ROG) is an international non-governmental organization. Its headquarters is located in Paris. The organization was founded in 1985.

Stated purpose

The official website of the organization says that Reporters Without Borders:

• "defends journalists and media assistants imprisoned or persecuted for doing their job and exposes the mistreatment and torture of them in many countries."
• "fights against censorship and laws that undermine press freedom."
• "gives financial aid each year to 100 or so journalists or media outlets in difficulty (to pay for lawyers, medical care and equipment) as well to the families of imprisoned journalists."
• "works to improve the safety of journalists, especially those reporting in war zones."

Activities

RSF works on the ground in defence of individual journalists at risk and at the highest levels of government and international forums to defend the right to freedom of expression and information. It provides daily briefings and press releases on threats to media freedom in French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Persian and Chinese and publishes an annual press freedom round up, the World Press Freedom Index, that measures the state of media freedom in 180 countries. The organisation provides assistance to journalists at risk and training in digital and physical security, as well as campaigning to raise public awareness of abuse against journalists and to secure their safety and liberty. RSF lobbies governments and international bodies to adopt standards and legislation in support of media freedom and takes legal action in defence of journalists under threat. In addition, RSF keeps a yearly count of journalists killed on the job.

To mark World Day Against Cyber-Censorship on 12 March 2020, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) unveiled a list of 20 Digital Predators of Press Freedom and announced that it is unblocking access to a total 21 websites in the sixth year of its Operation Collateral Freedom.

Structure

RSF's head office is based in Paris. It has 13 regional and national offices, including Brussels, London, Washington, Berlin, Rio de Janeiro, Taipei and Dakar, and a network of 146 correspondents. It employs 57 salaried staff in Paris and internationally. A board of governors, elected from RSF's members, approves the organisation's policies. An International Council has oversight of the organisation's activities and approves the accounts and budget.

Accusations

John Cherian from India says that Dalai Lama, leader of the Tibetan people, has Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) ties. John Cherian says that Reporters Without Borders has supported Tibet and tells a rumor that also Reporters Without Borders has CIA ties. Someone says CIA gave money to RWB.

Accusations have been made by Diana Barahona, who sends stories to Counterpunch website. She claims that RWB takes sides. They take sides especially when they publish news on Cuba. She says that on its press freedom index, Reporters Without Borders gives Cuba a lower ranking than countries like Colombia, Peru and Mexico where she claims reporters are routinely killed. She claims the U.S. State Department has donated to RWB. She claims that the organization has links with the International Republican Institute (IRI), which she claims is an arm of the Republican Party. She claims that IRI funding opposition leaders of Hugo Chávez and Jean-Bertrand Aristide in close connection with CIA. She claims RWB's trustworthiness is questionable.

Related pages

• Internet censorship