The International Commission on Information and Democracy is calling on Big Tech to commit to promote reliable news and information sources in search and to combat rumors and disinformation across their platforms as they have done specifically in the fight against COVID-19. 

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If not, the commission argues, those companies threaten the survival of news media.  

That came in an open letter signed by commission members, led by co-chairs Christophe Deloire, secretary general of Reporters without Borders (RSF), and Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Prize laureate. 

It also came on the even of World Press Freedom Day (May 3). 

"You are sometimes rendered dizzy by your power and the phenomena you cause. The digital platforms have had very positive effects on horizontal communication," they wrote. "But the information chaos – attributable to the absence of obligations – threatens democratic life, civil harmony, the survival of news media and everyone’s basic ability to distinguish true from false or to withdraw from the echo chambers surrounding them."  

The letter was directed at Big Tech in general, but to a half dozen of the biggest--Google, Facebook, Apple, Twitter, Microsoft, Amazon--by name. 

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The commission members argue that the those companies have the size and power of parliaments and governments, but without the accountability. 

"You define the framework and rules of the public debate, a role formerly (and normally) assigned to our legislators," they wrote, "but you are not subject to the procedures, checks and balances, and transparency obligations that are imposed on the laws and machinery of democratic states." 

"We are calling on you to take a huge step, in order to contribute to the implementation of a global framework that will enable public debate that is open, tolerant and as honest as possible," they wrote.

Commemorating the March 11 one-year anniversary since the last daily televised White House press briefing with the White House press secretary, Reporters Without Borders released an analysis of what it says have been the Trump Administration's efforts to "strategically restrict press access."

Even before the daily briefings were cancelled, the report said, they were in "steady decline," being increasingly replaced by "chopper talks" by the President between Marine One and the White House. 

RSF said that those less formal opportunities have been a way for the President to control the narrative and "evade accountability." Formal White House press briefings by the Trump Administration were far outstripped at the same point in their first terms by both Trump's predecessors. 

In President Trump’s first three years in office, the White House has had a total of 158 press briefings with a press secretary taking questions, compared to 399 under President Obama and 351 under George W. Bush in their first three years.  

There were only 93 such briefings in 2017, 63 in 2018 and only two in 2019 before they were terminated. Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham, who took over in July 2019, has held none. 

A nation's leader singling out journalists for exclusion from access and trying to de-fund public broadcasting? No, that's not a recap of the Trump White House's media policy. Instead, that was the subject of an alert from Reporters Without Borders (RSF) about Britain's Prime Minister, Boris Johnson. 

According to the journalism defense group, political reporters walked out of a Downing Street press conference in solidarity with their colleagues after Johnson's director of communications Lee Cain, tried to prevent some journalists from covering the invitation-only briefing to which they had apparently not been invited. 

Those journalists had already complained that the change of the daily briefing from Parliament to Downing Street could mean the Prime Minister would try to impose new restrictions on coverage. 

RSF also pointed out that Johnson was already under fire for his decision to issue his Brexit Day address direct-to-video, rather than allowing broadcast media to cover it themselves. Broadcasters then declined to air the pre-recorded speech, after which they were accused of bias. 

While it was recounting its concerns, Reporters without Borders also pointed out that the government had been considering decriminalizing nonpayment of the TV license fee--Brits pay a fee on sets--that provides the majority of funding to public service broadcaster BBC. 

"Restrictions on journalists’ access and threats against public service media are nothing short of alarming, and are disturbingly reminiscent of early Trump administration moves in the U.S. - practices that should be reversed, not replicated," said RSF UK bureau director Rebecca Vincent. "We call on the Prime Minister to ensure that such steps are immediately ceased, and that this government is acting in line with the country’s obligations to protect and respect press freedom."