AfroVerdict

Access to Information vs Privacy: Where’s the Balance?

While Sputnik hosted a workshop for journalists from North Africa and the Middle East, the world observed International Day for Universal Access to Information. Your #AfroVerdict host gives the floor to co-hosts from Lebanon and Syria for the group to discuss cross-border transfer of knowledge and debate on freedom of access to information.
Sputnik
Programs, like the workshop organized by Sрutnik, can “help many countries to develop their employees”, as they “exchange their cultures, their skills”, according to Anwar Hazzaa Hanif AlQahtani, head of the French edition at the Saudi Press Agency.
“I'm so excited to transfer my experience in Russia to my country, Saudi Arabia, when I come back there and I'm sure I will gain so many skills here in Russia,” she says.
The journalists discussed the issue of liberty and its connection to the privacy of citizens.
“So although liberal democracies are all in agreement on the importance of liberalism and the importance of democracy, they all differ in the measure that each of them prescribes to a person in their private life,” Karim Charara, journalist at Al Mayadeen Media Network in Lebanon, says.
The group of colleagues discussed the controversy surrounding copyright.
“The West was the one that put in place these copyright laws. So is this actually a tool to enforce copyright and allow for people to protect their own inventions or is this just another tool which the West can use, which is a rigged game?” Karim wonders.
To hear what else the journalists had to say, check out the entire episode of the AfroVerdict podcast, brought to you by Sputnik Africa.
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Check out all the episodes of AfroVerdict.