One Free Press Coalition is a collection of media publishers from around the world that have committed to use their collective audiences to stand up for journalists under attack for pursuing the truth has put Rana Ayyub at 5th rank.
According to DW, the independent Indian journalist Rana Ayyub has spent her career covering taboo subjects, including violence against lower-caste groups and minorities in India. Because of her work, Ayyub has faced a wave of harassment on social media, including pornographic videos with her face photoshopped in them and the publication of her address and personal phone number.
Members the One Free Press Coalition are The Associated Press, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Reuters and the Financial Times.
"In accordance with DW's mandate, we support the One Free Press Coalition and its mission to harness the power of global networks in order to facilitate – and, if necessary, to defend – a diversity of opinion and freedom of the press," said DW Editor-in-Chief Ines Pohl.
"The best weapon against the advance of populists and autocrats is free information which can empower citizens to form an independent opinion," she added.
Each month, the news organizations that make up the coalition will highlight ten "most urgent press freedom cases" for their collective global audiences and social media users. The first list, published in March, included the late Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post columnist who was killed in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, Reuters journalists imprisoned in Myanmar and Thomas Awah Junior, a journalist imprisoned in Cameroon.
The list for April 2019 is as follows;
1. Miroslava Breach Velducea (Mexico): Murdered for reporting on corruption and politics
2. Maria Ressa and Rappler (The Philippines): Arrest and legal threats for critical media outlet and its editor
3. Tran Thi Nga (Vietnam): Journalist accused of spreading propaganda
4. Azimjon Askarov (Kyrgyzstan): A life sentence for documenting human rights abuses
5. Rana Ayyub (India): When reporting leads to escalating online threats
6. Miguel Mora and Lucía Pineda Ubau (Nicaragua): Nicaraguan journalists detained amid media crackdown
7. Anna Nimiriano (South Sudan): Newspaper editor in South Sudan, lives under constant threat
8. Amade Abubacar (Mozambique): Mozambican journalist held in detention without trial
9. Claudia Duque (Colombia): Human rights defender endures attacks in Colombia where impunity remains 98.81%
10. Osman Mirghani (Sudan): Independent journalist detained, health deteriorating
