An inside look at how the governments of Iran, Russia, India, Egypt, Brazil, India and the US used COVID as a pretense to undermine freedom
The Infodemic lays bare the mechanisms of modern censorship and shows how they were used to undermine the response to the greatest global pandemic in a century. Beginning in China, the book charts the onslaught of COVID censorship through Iran, Russia, India, Egypt, Brazil, India and inside the Trump White House. Modern censors not only restrict the flow of information but also open the floodgates to overwhelm the public with lies and half truths. Increased surveillance in the name of public health, the collapse of public trust in institutions, and the demise of local news reporting, help governments hijack the flow of information and usurp power. The Infodemic shows how, under the cover of COVID, governments have undermined freedom and taken control. This new global political order may be the legacy of the disease.
Joel Simon is the executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists. He has written widely on media issues, contributing to Slate, Columbia Journalism Review, The New York Review of Books, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Guardian. He has led numerous international missions to advance press freedom. He is the author of The New Censorship: Inside the Global Battle for Media Freedom, and We Want to Negotiate: The Secret World of Kidnapping, Hostages and Ransom. Robert Mahoney is deputy executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, and has worked as a Reuters correspondent with postings in Southeast Asia, West Africa, India, Israel, France and Germany.
An inside look at how the governments of Iran, Russia, India, Egypt, Brazil, India and the US used COVID as a pretense to undermine freedom
The Infodemic lays bare the mechanisms of modern censorship and shows how they were used to undermine the response to the greatest global pandemic in a century. Beginning in China, the book charts the onslaught of COVID censorship through Iran, Russia, India, Egypt, Brazil, India and inside the Trump White House. Modern censors not only restrict the flow of information but also open the floodgates to overwhelm the public with lies and half truths. Increased surveillance in the name of public health, the collapse of public trust in institutions, and the demise of local news reporting, help governments hijack the flow of information and usurp power. The Infodemic shows how, under the cover of COVID, governments have undermined freedom and taken control. This new global political order may be the legacy of the disease.
Author
Joel Simon is the executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists. He has written widely on media issues, contributing to Slate, Columbia Journalism Review, The New York Review of Books, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Guardian. He has led numerous international missions to advance press freedom. He is the author of The New Censorship: Inside the Global Battle for Media Freedom, and We Want to Negotiate: The Secret World of Kidnapping, Hostages and Ransom. Robert Mahoney is deputy executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, and has worked as a Reuters correspondent with postings in Southeast Asia, West Africa, India, Israel, France and Germany.
