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Part of IPI’s series, Europe media freedom in the shadow of Covid, authored by IPI correspondents across Europe
IPI Correspondent, Aljaž Pengov Bitenc outlines how a new bill in Slovenia paves the way for massive funding cuts that would jeopardize public service mission
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Part of IPI’s series, Europe media freedom in the shadow of Covid, authored by IPI correspondents across Europe
The COVID-19 pandemic adds to squeeze as Orbán regime continues to target independent press. IPI correspondent in Budapest, Marton Bede analyses the impact of the threats facing Index and what that means for media freedom in Hungary
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Ahead of the announcement of the verdict into the murder of Slovak journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée, Martina Kušnírová next week, IPI, who have been observing the court hearing, outlines the importance of this case for media freedom in Slovakia and Europe.
The Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) renewed its call for justice for Slovak journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée, Martina Kušnírová, as a court in Pezinok prepares to issue a verdict in the trial of their suspected killers on Wednesday 5th August.
Kuciak, whose work for the online news site Aktuality.sk uncovered allegations of tax fraud and financial crime implicating prominent business and political leaders in Slovakia, and Kušnírová were killed in their home on 21 February 2018. The double murder sparked the largest protests in Slovakia since the Velvet Revolution, and led to the resignations of the Prime Minister Róbert Fico, Interior Minister Robert Kaliňák, Culture Minister Marek Maďarič, and Chief of Police Tibor Gašpar.
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EFJ and IPI, supported by ECPMF, have compiled a report analysing the first 4-months of the MFRR, charting a worrying decline in media freedom in EU Member States and Candidate Countries
The monitoring report compiled by European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and International Press Institute (IPI), with support from ECPMF, gives unprecedented insight into the threats to media freedom in EU member states and Candidate Countries. Within the monitored period from March to June a total of 126 alerts were registered on the Mapping Media Freedom platform from two-thirds of the countries covered by the MFRR.
Key trends including the COVID-19 Pandemic (and governments’ responses to this crisis) and the dangers from demonstrators and police officers for journalists and media workers covering protesters and demonstrations.
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Given recent attacks on journalists and media freedom in Serbia, we are concerned that a financial investigation targeting a number of media organisations and associations could be an abuse of legal mechanism in order to exert pressure on the critical voices in Serbia.
ARTICLE 19 and European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), as part of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), are concerned by a financial investigation launched by the Serbian authorities into journalists, media and civil society organisations. The Serbian Finance Ministry’s Money Laundering Prevention Department has drawn up a list of media, journalists and NGOs whose bank records it wants to check. The information about this list was published in the Serbian media on 27 July.
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Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) partners are profoundly concerned about the latest media freedom attacks in Hungary, which take place only days after the EU Summit, where Prime Minister Viktor Orbán praised the rule of law situation in his country.
On 22 July 2020, László Bodolai, the head of Magyar Fejlődésért Alapítvány (Foundation for Hungarian Progress, owner of Index Zrt.), fired the Index.hu editor-In-Chief, Szabolcs Dull. After a letter to the owners signed by the outlet’s journalistic team was refused calling for Dull to be reinstated, the editorial board, made up of Attila Tóth-Szenesi, Veronika Munk, and János Haász, alongside 70 journalists tendered their resignation from Index.
This is the latest attack on media freedom in Hungary and represents a further reduction of the space within which free and independent media outlets can operate.
Update: On 18 September Vera Jourova, Vice-President of the European Commission responded to this letter on behalf of the President Ursula von der Leyen
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Polarization and attempts by far-right party to smear fact-checkers and journalists undermine media freedom across the country.
Amidst the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, Spain’s far-right party, Vox introduced a bill to Parliament which aims to regulate fact-checking news outlets in Spain. The text, published on July 17, explicitly forbids the verification of any statement on “social media, blogs, generic websites, print, online outlets and broadcasters“ unless the media organization publicly states its affiliation, if any, to a political party, government or ideology.
The bill also prohibits the fact-checking of “opinions” and includes a provision by which fact-checkers can be held legally liable for labelling them as ‘fake news’. Here MFRR partner, International Press Institute explores what this means for media freedom across the country
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Between 7th and 11th July, 28 journalists and media workers have been attacked by demonstrators and police officers during demonstrations across Serbia
MFRR partners and leading free expression, journalist and media freedom organisations have come together to call for all attacks and threats to journalists to be investigated fully to ensure that perpetrators of violence, including police officers and other state entities, are held to account.
This open letter has been sent to the Minister of Interior of the Republic of Serbia, Dr Nebojša Stefanović
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As part of the MFRR, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) strongly condemns the online harassment, including threats of physical and sexual violence, against journalist Tanja Milevska, working for the North Macedonia news agency MIA as a Brussels correspondent.
Tanja Milevska received verbal abuse, death and rape threats on social media networks after she tweeted on 11 July asking whether Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and the European People’s Party (EPP) in the European Parliament recognise the constitutional change of 2019 making “North Macedonia” the country’s official name.
Following the tweets, trolls and active political figures have been fueling threats for the past four days in an attempt to discredit the journalist in the context of parliamentary election to be held on Wednesday 15 July.
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The International Press Institute (IPI) has joined a letter from the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) to the Greek government calling for greater transparency and objectivity in the distribution of public advertisement funds to media.
A recent analysis has shown that ad revenue from a public health advertising campaign related to Covid-19 was not distributed fairly, with media perceived as critical of the government receiving disproportionately less revenue or excluded from the scheme altogether.
The letter criticizes the opaque ad distribution carried out by a private company and calls on the Greek government to provide full clarification on the exact criteria to use to select which media received state support and which amounts.
