USING CORONAVIRUS AGAINST CIVIL RIGHTS AND MEDIA FREEDOM
USING CORONAVIRUS AGAINST CIVIL RIGHTS AND MEDIA FREEDOM

Summary/Abstract: A characteristic of all major crises that cause a state of emergency in a country or community, such as coups, wars, natural disasters, or the current COVID-19 pandemic, is their impact on the role and behavior of the authorities and how they treat their citizens. That is when officials display their true nature and their tendencies towards autocratic decision-making “in the interest of the public” and for their own good. The first step consists of declaring a state of emergency or, in a milder form, a state of crisis, which entails suspension of democracy and the functioning of state institutions and a concentration of uncontrolled power in the hands of one or a very small number of people, who then translate their decisions into laws. Apart from suspending democracy, which is usually done for undefined periods of time, human rights and liberties suffer, and there are limitations to media freedom. For authorities with an autocratic approach, it is imperative that the public not know what they are doing during the state of emergency and that their procedures and regulations are not exposed to public scrutiny.

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