The Committee to Protect Journalists says the European Union needs to do more to protect media workers.
Reporters across Europe are working under increasingly difficult conditions. And attempts to silence them are increasing, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
The US-based organization stated in a comprehensive analysis released on Wednesday. That while the European Union has initiated measures to promote media freedom throughout the years. Progress in developing long-term solutions to address attacks against journalists within the EU has been slow.
“Some governments used the COVID-19 pandemic to exert control over the media, including limiting journalist access and withholding public-interest information.” “Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has put the EU’s ability to protect journalist safety to the test,” according to the report.
Last year, more than ten journalists killed in Ukraine, while many in Russia were targeted by Moscow’s wartime censorship regulations.
In its world press freedom index, nine of the top ten countries are in Europe. Although the CPJ claims that the situation is deteriorating.
“The murder of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017. And the murder of Slovakian journalist Jan Kuciak in 2018 shook EU institutions in Brussels.” These served as a spur for the bloc to act to protect journalists.
“We have also seen a daily increase in online harassment and digital threats against journalists. Including threats from very rich and powerful individuals who want to silence them through vexatious lawsuits called SLAPP – or strategic lawsuit against public participation,” he added.
Gibson bemoaned the lack of support for independent media, alleging “media capture” in some EU countries.
“Journalism and journalists under attack in ways never seen before. Looking at the situation in Europe, we can see that the intention to silence journalists has grown,” Tom Gibson, CPJ’s Europe representative, told Al Jazeera.
Some “governments seek to control media by financing them. And undercut independent journalism,” he said, urging the EU to strengthen its role as a global leader in preserving press freedom.
What has the EU done to tackle media control?
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, stated in her State of the Union speech to the European Parliament in 2021 that Europe requires a law to protect media freedom.
At the time, EU states such as Hungary accused of trying to gain control over media outlets and imprisoning journalists for reporting on the coronavirus outbreak.
The European Commission introduced the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) in September 2022, with the goal of protecting “media pluralism and independence in the EU.”
However, according to Gibson, several EU countries are fighting to prevent the EMFA from implemented. Because it addresses threats of “media capture” and is also an anti-SLAPP rule.
Surveillance and spyware
While the European Parliament has established a committee to investigate possible breaches of EU legislation in the use of monitoring software. The CPJ stated that better solutions are required.
Gibson, for example, warned that some legislation aimed at combating online spying could jeopardise encryption.
Journalists Thanasis Koukakis, Stavros Malichoudis, and Eliza Triantafillou in Greece claim that their work has made them subjects of state-sanctioned surveillance.
Malichoudis believes the EU should punish Athens for admitting to some eavesdropping charges.
“The government is spying on almost everyone who holds them accountable.” As long as they do this, they should barred from getting EU funding, he said .
So far, the EU has taken action to address the rule of law and press freedom issues in Poland and Hungary by holding back funds.
EU’s role abroad
The CPJ also urged the EU to take a more active role in defending press freedom outside of Europe.
“The EU’s international response determined by its trade relations or political interests.” “However, the EU can play a role, as it did in the Philippines in defending Maria Ressa, Nobel Peace Prize winner and Rappler editor,” Gibson said.
Znar Abdalla Mohammad, a journalist from Sulaymaniyah in Iraq’s Kurdistan area who is presently seeking asylum. Believes the EU and the United Kingdom should do more to protect refugee journalists.
“A special law to deal with the visa and asylum issues of journalists who become refugees in the UK and Europe will help,” said the 30-year-old journalist. Who threatened in Iraq for her reporting and now resides in the UK.
Gibson stated that the EU should prioritise refugee journalist visas “so that they have safer and faster options to seek refuge and continue their work.”
