Digital media is causing divisions, fuelling global tensions: Reporters Without Borders

Reporters Without Borders, often known by its French acronym RSF said in a report that unregulated online content has helped spread disinformation and propaganda that have in turn led to widening of political divisions and even caused international tension contributing to Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The media watchdog presented its findings in the 2022 edition of its annual World Press Freedom Index

The report said that democratic societies are increasingly being fractured by disinformation spreading social media while mainstream media pursues a "Fox News model". This is a reference to US right-wing television network.

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The report noted that autocratic regimes were tightening control on information within their societies. This leverage, is in turn used to wage "propaganda wars" against democracies and fuel divisions within them.

Such polarisation is becoming more "extreme," worldwide, RSF's director of operations and campaigns Rebecca Vincent told a news conference in London.

Vincent pointed to deaths of journalists in Netherlands, Greece and also mentioned case of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange who is facing an extradition and trial in US for publication of millions of secret documents.

The report showed how Russia, where state-run media overwhelmingly dominates and independent outlets are largely stifled, waged a propaganda war before its invasion of Ukraine.

Evgeniya Dillendorf, a correspondent for the independent Novaya Gazeta newspaper, said the main reason for lack of media diversity in Russia "is not pressure but lack of independent business which would finance it, and the lack of independent judicial system that would defend it".

Novaya Gazeta has suspended publication for the duration of Moscow's military intervention to avoid being shut down.

"The creation of media weaponry in authoritarian countries eliminates their citizens' right to information but is also linked to the rise in international tension, which can lead to the worst kind of wars," RSF Secretary-General Christophe Deloire said.

The "Fox News-isation" of Western media also posed a "fatal danger for democracies because it undermines the basis of civil harmony and tolerant public debate", he added.

(With inputs from agencies)

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