UNESCO Report Exposes Rising Abuse of Financial Charges to Intimidate Journalists

This tactic is often wielded during politically sensitive periods, such as protests, elections, or major international events, when media coverage may bring global attention to host nations.

A new UNESCO report reveals a troubling surge in the misuse of financial allegations against journalists and media outlets, with instances more than doubling in recent years. Of 120 reviewed cases spanning from 2005 to 2024, nearly 60% were recorded between 2019 and 2023. These charges—primarily extortion, tax evasion, and money laundering—are reportedly being manipulated to pressure, intimidate, and silence independent voices in journalism.

A Tool to Undermine Media Independence

UNESCO highlights that these financial accusations, unlike defamation or libel cases, are often disconnected from the content produced by journalists or their outlets, obscuring the true motive behind the charges and intensifying their impact on public trust. In many cases, financial investigations are launched by state actors or executive powers directly, bypassing judicial scrutiny and leading to asset freezes and detentions, stifling the journalist’s capacity to report and sometimes leading to the closure of the entire media outlet. This threat of financial ruin forces many journalists into self-censorship.

Regional Disparities in Financial Harassment

The trend is geographically uneven. The report documents at least five recent cases in Latin America and the Caribbean—up from two over the prior decade—and eight in Africa between 2019 and 2023, where tax evasion and extortion are frequently cited. Eastern Europe, Asia, and Central Asia see the highest concentrations of cases, with over 40 new incidents reported since 2020. In South Asia, laws are often weaponized to label independent media as terrorist-funded or to restrict foreign support.

Legal Harassment Amplified by Key Events

This tactic is often wielded during politically sensitive periods, such as protests, elections, or major international events, when media coverage may bring global attention to host nations. These financial attacks—used alongside other legal tools like blackmail, fraud, and embezzlement charges—are among the fastest-growing threats to journalism. UNESCO’s data, while based on publicly available information, suggests significant underreporting, meaning the actual number of cases is likely far higher.

The report builds on findings from UNESCO’s previous studies on the legal harassment of journalists in 2021 and 2022 and calls for heightened international oversight to protect journalists from financial-based intimidation and safeguard the principles of press freedom worldwide.