LIBE I

Journalism under pressure: In recent years, freedom of the press has come under pressure in the EU. With journalists facing threats or even coming under attack, what can the EU do to ensure journalists can work safely and freely?

Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs I
Written by: Sofia Giani (IT)

Relevance of the Topic 

In 1766 Sweden was the first nation in the world to pass legislation that guaranteed the freedom of the press. The law stated the principle that citizens of a state should be free to seek, receive and impart information through any media without fear of reprisal or legal persecution. Since then, the principle has become a cornerstone of liberal democracies.

How has the situation developed in more than 250 years? While Norway remains at the top of the World Press Freedom Index, conditions on both extremes have evolved considerably. Estonia and Lithuania – two former authoritarian communist states – are now among the top ten, while the Netherlands no longer is. Meanwhile, Greece has replaced Bulgaria, coming in last in Europe.

Freedom of expression and information, together with the freedom of the press, fundamentally contribute to the formation of public opinion, allowing people to make informed social and political decisions.

In recent years, press freedom worldwide has been deteriorating, and Europe is no exception. Now imagine: what if there was no journalism? 

Would citizens still have access to freedom of opinion and the right to be informed? Therefore, what can the EU do to ensure free and safe work for journalists? 

Key Terms & Definitions 

  • Censorship: the action of preventing a part or the whole of a book, document, film or any other kind of information-imparting medium from being seen by or made available to the public because it is considered to be offensive or harmful, or because it contains information which, often for political reasons, are wanted to be inaccessible.
  • Press Freedom Index: an annual ranking of countries compiled and published by Reporters Without Borders based on the organisation’s assessment of the countries’ press freedom records in the previous year. It intends to reflect the degree of freedom that journalists, news organisations, and netizens1 have in each country, and the efforts made by authorities to respect this freedom.
  • Democracy Index: another index compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit which uses media freedom as one of the indicators to measure how democratic a country is.
  • SLAPPs (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation): the term generally refers to a lawsuit filed by powerful subjects, such as a corporation, a public official or a high-profile business person, against non-government individuals or organisations who expressed a critical position on issues of some political interest or social significance. SLAPPs use several strategies, generally including exorbitant claims for damages and allegations designed to smear, harass and overwhelm activists and/or civil society organisations.

Key Actors 

  • European Commission: the Commission is the sole EU institution tabling laws for adoption by the Parliament and the Council that protect the interests of the EU and its citizens on issues that cannot be dealt with effectively at the national level and get technical details right by consulting experts and the public.
  • Journalist: a person who writes news stories or articles for newspapers, magazines, or news websites or broadcasts them through media. In this case, we are referring particularly to independent journalism, meaning it is free of influence by government or corporate interests or influential people: this means that journalists feel no pressure to shape their reporting, and can share unvarnished facts with the public.
  • Reporters Without Borders: an international non-profit organisation governed by principles of democratic governance aiming to safeguard the right to freedom of information and the independence of journalism.
  • Platform for the Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists: a mechanism which helps create a dialogue between governments and organisations representing journalists, aiming to stop violations against press freedom in the Member States and enabling journalists to exercise their profession without the risk of compromising their safety. 

Key Conflicts 

In many countries, journalists and other media actors face censorship, political and economic pressure, intimidation, job insecurity, abusive use of defamation laws and physical attacks. Although Europe has always topped the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index, some clear signs of decline are arising. The annual report by the partner organisations to ‘the Council of Europe Platform to Promote the Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists’ provides a wide range of facts on the situation2. The disparities shown in the annual Press Freedom Index, combined with the information from the Annual Report on the Platform, reflect three main alarming threats:

  • The return of journalist homicide in the EU. An emblematic case is the one concerning Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta. Galizia was a writer, blogger and anti-corruption activist, who reported on political events in Malta. In particular, she focused on investigative journalism, reporting on government corruption, allegations of money laundering and organised crime. She was killed in a car bomb explosion on the 16th of October 2017. This case, however, only represents the tip of the iceberg. In 2021, six journalists were killed: three of them – in Greece, the Netherlands and Turkey – were directly targeted. Another journalist died in Georgia following the violence while covering street protests. By the end of 2021, 26 cases of unpunished homicides of journalists remain active on the platform. The Russian Federation, Turkey, and Ukraine account for 60% of these impunity alerts collected by the platform.
  • Journalists facing hostility from protesters. Especially during protests against public health measures aimed at tackling the coronavirus pandemic (particularly lockdown-related demonstrations), journalists were physically attacked, insulted, harassed, and threatened. Moreover, the pandemic was used by some governments to introduce a raft of measures against media and journalists. This ranged from limiting access to government briefings and health workers, directing Covid-19 “public health information” funds to pro-government media and, in the Russian Federation, but also in the EU Member State of Hungary, introducing laws criminalising the deliberate spread of disinformation related to the pandemic. However, these threats to journalism do not only limit to pandemic-related protests, journalists are also increasingly vulnerable to direct attacks on their physical safety and integrity in general. in 2021, there were 82 alerts in that category, many of which took place during public protests.
  • Oppressive laws against journalists. Some EU Member States attempted to limit the freedom of the press by introducing oppressive laws against journalists, or other actions targeting reporters who were taking a critical approach to their governments. SLAPPs are a particular form of harassment used primarily against journalists and human rights activists to prevent them from, or penalising them for, speaking up on issues of public interest. Moreover, European countries have tried to control the reporting of politically sensitive news stories, particularly migration, which they characterised as national security issues. At the end of December 2021, 56 journalists and media actors were imprisoned in Member States of the Council of Europe. The Platform has recorded 10 alerts on the filing of criminal complaints for press offences by private or public figures. 19 other alerts have been filed on the prosecution of alleged criminal offences initiated by law enforcement and/or judicial authorities, as well as 9 alerts on the use of investigatory powers to disclose journalists’ sources.

Measures in place 

  • A free, responsible and diverse press is, in theory, protected by both national and international law. Particularly the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the European Convention on Human Rights, Article 10, and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union refer to the issue.
  • The European Commission has taken several measures to protect media freedom and pluralism in the EU. This has culminated in the European Media Freedom Act proposed in September 2022. Among others, the act aims to achieve:
    • No interference by governments or powerful figures in the editorial decision-making of the media;
    • Ban the use of spyware against journalists;
    • Independent and adequately funded public service media;
    • Ensure the transparency of media ownership;
    • Establishment of a new European Board for Media Services;
    • Establishment of requirements on EU Member States’ national measures promoting the media.
  • Since 2015, the Safety of Journalists Platform serves to facilitate the compilation, processing and dissemination of information on serious concerns about media freedom and the safety of journalists in Council of Europe Member States. It aims to improve the protection of journalists, better address threats and violence against media professionals and foster early warning mechanisms and response capacity within the Council of Europe.
  • The Council of Europe Cooperation Programme has been implemented in over 20 projects in Member States and partner countries promoting media freedom, including various aspects of journalist’s safety, such as seminars, training sessions for law enforcement, methodological recommendations and legal support for victims of suppression of press liberties. 
  • The EU supports media freedom and pluralism in many ways. Some examples of these are:
  • World Press Freedom Day, occurring each year on the 3rd of May, reminds governments as well as citizens of the need to respect their commitment to press freedom, while also being a day of reflection among media professionals about issues and ethics of press freedom. World Press Freedom Day is a day of support for media which are targets of the restraint, or abolition, of press freedom. It is also a day of remembrance for those journalists who lost their lives in the pursuit of a story.

Food for thought 

Freedom of expression and information, alongside the freedom of the press, are pillars of liberal democracy, on which the European Union is founded according to article 2 of the Treaty on the European Union. Media and press are essential institutions for holding governments accountable, as well as for sharing the stories and needs of members of the public.

Without this bidirectional dialogue between the society and the ones in power, how could you possibly have a strong and vital democracy?

The whole scenario that this topic overview has now outlined describes structural violence against journalists and with that an attack against their rights, attacks that ultimately challenge the stability of democracy in the EU. Imagine the same scenario proposed at the beginning: What if there was no journalism?

Could the EU still call itself democratic?

Links

Here are some useful sources for further information:

  • Press freedom: why you should be worried (2022) – the international correspondent at the Economist, Avantika Chilkoti, exposes the global decline of press freedom, with a particular focus on democracies.
  • Media Freedom Act (2022) – the Vice President of the European Commission Vera Jourova introduces the Media Freedom Act.
  1.  The term netizen is a portmanteau of the English words internet and citizen, as in a “citizen of the net” or “net citizen.” It describes a person actively involved in online communities or the internet in general.
  2.  The Council of Europe is an international organisation that aims to uphold democracy, human rights, and the rule of law in its 46 member states all throughout Europe. Note: The Council of Europe is distinct from the EU and does not represent an official EU institution.