The Austrian Communication Platforms Act took effect on January 1, 2021. It’s Austria’s attempt to protect public discourse by regulating the big social media platforms. The law is also part of a larger package of legal reforms in the country that aim at addressing online abuse.

IPI Head of Digital Communications Javier Luque talks to experts Daniela Kraus, Secretary General of the Presseclub Concordia, and journalist Ingrid Brodnig, who has authored several books on online harassment and disinformation, about the law’s potential benefits as well as potential pitfalls that could negatively impact the free dissemination of news and freedom of expression.

In this episode of IPI’s ‘The Press Freedom Files’ podcast, IPI Head of Digital Communications Javier Luque looks into the increasingly difficult situation journalists face in Slovenia. A rise in online abuse and campaigns to discredit the media fuelled by a populist government leave journalists with a difficult decision to make: Either accept all this or quit your career.

Guest Mojca Šetinc Pašek, a senior journalist at Slovenia’s RTV public broadcaster, talks about the experience of being in the crosshairs of current Primer Minister Janez Janša. We also talk with Špela Stare, secretary general of the Slovene Journalists Association, to dive deep into the driving force behind the attacks.

At midnight on February 14, one of Hungary’s last major independent radio stations, Klubrádió, fell silent on the frequency on which it had broadcast for 20 years.

The silencing of the critical broadcaster comes after a court in Budapest sided with the government-controlled Hungarian Media Council and approved its decision to refuse to renew Klubrádió’s seven-year license.

The ruling resigned Klubrádió to broadcasting solely from the internet from today, February 15, and caps the end of a decade-long campaign by the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to muzzle one of the country’s last critical stations.

The third episode of IPI’s podcast ‘The Press Freedom Files’ examines the impact of this court verdict on what remains of media pluralism in Hungary and contextualizes it within the government’s broader efforts to silence independent journalism.

IPI Advocacy Officer Jamie Wiseman talks with guests Arató András, chairman of the board of Klubrádió, and Dr Gábor Polyák, an associate professor at the Institute for Communication and Media Studies of the University of Pécs and head of research at Mérték Media Monitor.

The tightening of the COVID-19 restrictions in The Netherlands triggered riots and violence that swept the streets of the country’s main cities on the weekend of January 24^th. Far-right rhetoric and conspiracy theories proliferating across Europe have planted a seed of distrust in the media, increased polarization and, observers say, awakened a dormant racism in the Netherlands. All of this has resulted in a sudden growth of both online and physical attacks against reporters, with female and minority journalists especially targeted.

The second episode of IPI’s podcast ‘The Press Freedom Files’ sheds some light over the causes and consequences of this worrying trend in a country widely known for its progressive and liberal spirit. Guests Clarice Gagard, a prominent Dutch journalist targeted with online abuse; and seasoned journalist Peter ter Velde, manager of the initiative Press Safety, talk with IPI Head of Digital Communications Javier Luque.