There are so-called “strong men” in several countries who reduce freedom of expression. But they are the ones who are really weak, because they can not stand competition for power, says Anniken Huitfeldt to TV 2.
She is participating in the World Expression Forum, which was held in connection with the literature festival in Lillehammer this week.
– They have to reduce the opposition’s ability to take over power or the press’ ability to criticize politicians and that is really a sign of weakness.
– Will leave the Russian people to state propaganda
The editor of the critically acclaimed Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, Dmitry Muratov, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 together with the Philippine editor Maria Ressa, believes that this is exactly what Russia’s president is doing.
He believes Putin’s goal is to isolate the Russian Internet from the rest of the world.
– MEDIA-HOLOCAUST: Editor-in-chief of the Russian regime-critical newspaper Novaya Gazeta, Dmitry Muratov, believes the Russian state will eradicate all alternative media. Photo: Dmitry Muratov
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“The blocking of large social networks and websites and the persecution of journalists, including the use of street terrorism, is in fact already, excuse the expression, like a media holocaust,” Muratov said.
He believes that the goal is the eradication of alternative media.
– Journalists are made outcasts and enemies of the people, so-called foreign agents.
– But why all this? Muratov asks himself on video transmission from Russia, and continues:
– The government has decided to leave the Russian people to state propaganda.
Must collect the superheroes
Muratov’s winner of the Peace Prize, editor of the investigative Philippine website Grappler, believes there are many examples around the world of freedom of speech and free media being gagged by authoritarian leaders.
– WARNING: Nobel laureate Maria Ressa warns that each of us has a responsibility to defend the truth to prevent democracies from disintegrating. Photo: Harald Bjørnson Jacobsen / TV 2
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During the freedom of expression conference WEXFO in Lillehammer, she warns that democracies around the world are in danger if not every one of those living in free democracies stands up for the truth.
– This is what I mean when I ask people living in democracies to really think about what they want to sacrifice for the truth, because this is what it’s about, Ressa says.
– I have not talked about this, but I call it “avengers assemble moment”. We must gather the superpowers now! I think democracy is ruined. We do not want it to fail completely, she continues.
Want regulation
Ressa emphasizes the importance of not being able to have different realities.
– Russia and Ukraine are a perfect example. Who thinks what? How can we have many versions of reality? We did not have it before. We should not have it, she says.
Maria Ressa believes that the algorithms that determine who gets to see what on social media are a strong contributing factor to the polarization we see in the world.
– Our minds are the gateway to reality, to change reality. And the fact that the laws of nature in the physical world do not exist in the virtual world, is the reason why you see what you see today. The fact that hatred, anger, conspiracy theories is what gets the biggest distribution. This is what makes you get incidents with mass shootings, says Ressa.
– It is not just information, it is a manipulation of our biology that honestly should have been banned a long time ago, she adds.
– What can we do to ensure freedom of expression?
– I think you must first realize that “they and us”, inside and outside the group, is an emotional manipulation of populist authoritarian-style leaders. That we are manipulated when “it is us against them”.
Maria Ressa is a pessimist on behalf of democracy as long as the algorithms in the social media ensure a greater spread of content about this style of leadership.
– It is the design (of the social media) that divides us and radicalizes us and sends us down the rabbit hole.
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