Scholars from 11 countries condemn US authoritarian turn and attacks on science

For the first time in more than 20 years, there are more authoritarian regimes — 91 — than democracies — 88 — in the world, according to an index created by three political science scholars at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. The United States could now be counted among the former, according to 13 scholars from 11 countries who have denounced President Donald Trump’s policies in a public statement.

“Once regarded as a democratic beacon of freedom of expression, the U.S. now represents one of the most recent and striking manifestations of this authoritarian trend,” they warn in an editorial published in Digital Journalism, the leading academic journal on journalism.

Oscar Westlund, 47, a professor at Oslo Metropolitan University in Norway, is the lead author of the article, which is also co-authored by 12 colleagues from the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Austria, Spain, Germany, Chile, Singapore, and Qatar. “We felt we hadn’t done enough to expose the situation, and with this article we’re also launching a petition campaign open to academics around the world, with which we hope to raise awareness of what’s happening,” explains the Swedish journalist.

Westlund acknowledges that several top-level American scholars declined to sign due to fear of retaliation. Others even more vulnerable did as well — such as a Middle Eastern PhD student studying in the United States, who explicitly asked him to withdraw an academic article he had submitted out of fear of reprisals from the government (Westlund is the editor-in-chief of Digital Journalism).

The article also describes several cases of self-censorship, in which researchers choose not to work on topics frowned upon by the Trump administration in order to avoid losing federal funding or risking their ability to leave or re-enter the country. The scholar expresses his astonishment that the publisher of the journal, Taylor & Francis — based in the United Kingdom and earning over $600 million annually — requested that the text be reviewed by their legal team to ensure there was nothing they could be sued for. “It’s something I’ve never experienced in my seven years as editor — not even heard of in the academic world,” Westlund admits.

“Never in my entire career did I think there would come a time when I would hesitate to sign an article, but the truth is that for a moment I considered not doing it for fear of possible reprisals,” explains Stephen Reese, a veteran journalism professor at the University of Texas at Austin, via videoconference.

Reese is one of three American academics who finally decided to support the campaign, in part, he explains, because of all the young people who cannot do so because their situation is much more precarious. “I think we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg, and that self-censorship and fear of reprisals affect all fields of knowledge, not just our relatively limited world of communication.” He adds: “Now we are experiencing firsthand what until now we had seen far away, in authoritarian countries to which we perhaps did not pay much attention.”

Ramón Salaverría, a professor at the University of Navarra in Spain and co-author of the article, explains that this stance, although modest, is important because it comes from academics who study journalism and teach it at universities. “Truth and freedom are the two fundamental values without which journalism cannot exist,” he explains. “Now that we are beginning to see cases of self-censorship, control over which topics can or cannot be covered, and funding cuts, it is important that those of us who work in this academic field realize how crucial it is to defend scientific freedom and freedom of expression,” he adds.

Salaverría, who also serves as director of the Iberian Observatory Against Disinformation, believes the broad attack on science and universities being orchestrated by Trump in the U.S. is comparable to what can be seen in regimes like Venezuela’s. The Maduro government “even made it impossible for newspapers to have paper to print,” Salaverría recalls. “These dynamics are also beginning to be seen in the academic world in the United States. The largest universities are standing up to the Trump administration’s attempts to pressure them, but other, smaller centers are having more problems and finding it more difficult to act with complete independence.” Salaverría believes that Europe should not believe itself immune to this type of interference, largely driven by the far right, which he warns is “tremendously negative for the future of research.”

Another signatory is Natali Helberger, professor of law and new technologies at the University of Amsterdam. She points out that three months ago, the Dutch government — led by a coalition between the right and the far right under Geert Wilders — announced a brutal €1.2 billion ($1.4 billion) cut to the research and university budget. Two months later, the far-right leader pulled out of the government, causing its collapse — only to strengthen his position ahead of new elections to be held this summer in the EU’s fifth-largest economy. “Attacks on academic freedom are not exclusive to the United States, but a norm for populist parties, also in Europe,” explains Helberger. “The brutal cuts announced make clear the priorities of a right-wing government, now fallen. A recent report by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences has denounced that academic freedom is in danger in the Netherlands, and has detailed how governments pressure research centers and universities with constraints, legislation, and direct attacks on certain researchers,” she adds.

The signatories have launched a website to gather support from the academic community — not only in the fields of communication and journalism, but from all areas of knowledge.

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