
Twitter is marking World Press Freedom Day on
Monday by launching a multi-pronged campaign to support local journalism.
The effort includes advertising in 28 local newspapers, including the Detroit Free Press, Des Moines
Register, Miami Herald and Kansas City Star.
The ads, both print and online, will direct readers to lists of journalists created by the newspapers and by Twitter.
In addition, Twitter is encouraging readers and reporters to share examples of effective local journalism under the hashtag #FollowLocalJournalists.
Twitter has also
organized Twitter Spaces, forums
that will allow people — including some in countries where press freedoms are particularly under attack—to hear directly from journalists.
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For instance, the
@ViceWorldNews team in Southeast Asia will host a group of Burmese journalists to discuss #whatshappeninginmyanmar in the aftermath of the bloody coup there.
In the Philippines, reporters from Rappler will host a Space on this belief: “When journalists
can’t ask, we can’t act.”
And in India, senior editors will discuss the challenges of covering the COVID-19 crisis.
Spaces will also be hosted in
Japan, Thailand and Brazil.
Moreover, Twitter is providing and Ads for
good grants to nonprofit organizations such as Committee to Protect
Journalists, Reporters sans
frontière, Philippine Center for
Investigative Journalism, National Union of Journalists of the
Philippines, Engage Media,
and PEN America.
“As journalists continue to selflessly report from the front lines of conflicts, in the face of hostile interests, and, especially during this past year, risk their personal health to cover a
global pandemic, we believe it is pivotal that they and their industry are supported,” Twitter writes.