Media independence is obviously very important when it comes to press freedom. The readers, audience and general public must know who owns the media and the information consumed, since journalism must be considered an industry that produces information.
People must be taught from an early age how to consume information and analyze where it comes from. Once I know where a given piece of information comes from, I may understand why the information is treated a certain way. I'll then be able to look for different information in order to cross-check the information and form my own opinion. I think that Canada, the democratic countries and all states in general must strengthen media literacy so that people understand that information can result from a conflict of interest or can be manipulated. Let's go back to the social networks, which we discussed earlier. From a young age, people must ensure that the information they consume and post on the networks is reliable and that they know where it comes from.
Regarding media independence, Reporters Without Borders considers that too much media concentration is dangerous to press freedom in general. As a result, we promote—obviously within our means—media pluralism and independence. In a democratic country, we must have access to a variety of opinions, reviews, editorial writers, agencies and journalists from all walks of life. Part of our work involves promoting this pluralism, which we consider fundamental.
I'll wrap up the issue of the negative environment for journalists by sharing the following observation. I believe that journalists and both small and large media have a great deal of responsibility in this area and must learn from it. As a French citizen, for example, I've observed the “yellow vest” phenomenon in my country and I've seen a great deal of mistrust toward journalists, who are sometimes held responsible for the situation even though they're only the “messengers” doing their reporting. Journalists must also take into account this reality and take responsibility perhaps by working in a more ethical and professional manner. In particular, they must return to certain fundamental principles of journalism, such as the verification of sources and the cross-checking of information. These are fairly basic points, but they're sometimes forgotten, which can lead to the somewhat widespread environment of mistrust prevalent today.
I believe that governments are responsible for providing more education and for teaching people to analyze the source of information consumed, and that journalists are responsible for further verifying the facts in order to produce better quality information.