The Reporters Without Borders organisation has taken to Minecraft to hold censored information and stories for everyone to see.
With Minecraft, players have been able to build all manner of worlds and structures, with further updates only adding more and more to the proceedings. But this is the first time it’s be used to bypass press censorship.
A virtual library has been created by the Reporters Without Borders organisation, which is dedicated to supporting freedom of expression and information for journalists.
Built out of 12 million blocks, there are 25 books to be found and read, from across five different countries that have press freedom issues. These are stories that have been censored in their respective countries, including ones by Jamal Khashoggi, the journalist who was murdered in 2018.
Speaking with Journalism.co.uk, Kristin Bässe, the head of the project, explained that this was a way for the organisation to engage with younger audiences and to bring them awareness about press censorship.
‘Younger
people don’t really access news from traditional platforms, so this is a way to
reach and engage them with the topic of press freedom. We want them to be able
to read, inform themselves and have access to free information.’
The library also acts as a loophole for those living in countries with press censorship to access the banned articles, since Minecraft is available almost everywhere and is constantly protected from hacking attacks, with 13,000 users having downloaded an offline version should anything happen to it.
Bässe
added that they were careful with making sure the contents were age-appropriate
and didn’t put any of the featured journalists in any sort of danger.
The
organisation hopes to further expand the library over the coming months.
Minecraft is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, Switch, and smartphones.
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