Bulgaria has long been one of the EU countries with the most problematic landscape for press freedom. In this European country, journalists face corruption, legal threats, and smear campaigns on a monthly, weekly or even daily basis.

To explore these issues further, in this episode of MFRR in Focus host Anne ter Rele speaks with Bulgarian journalist Boryana Dzhambazova, a researcher and freelance journalist from Sofia, and Assen Yordanov, founder and director of Bivol.bg – an independent investigaitve news outlet whose journalists have faced waves of pressure because of their work.

Credits

Host and Producer: Anne ter Rele, IPI Advocacy Officer.

Editor: Jamie Wiseman, IPI Advocacy Officer.

Digital Producer: Alex Klint, IPI Contributor.

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This podcast publication was coordinated by IPI as part of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), a Europe-wide mechanism which tracks, monitors and responds to violations of press and media freedom in EU Member States, Candidate Countries and Ukraine.

What is it like to report as a woman journalist in 2022? And in particular, what is it like to report on crises, like the Russian war against Ukraine? 

Women journalists face many challenges in their work, such as harassment, intimidation and threats – both offline and online – and they are arguably targeted more often than their male colleagues. In times of crisis, different treatments between men and women journalists can lead to real-life aggravated risks, for example because women journalists have less access to special safety equipment. 

In this episode of MFRR in Focus on the topic of women in journalism, host Anne ter Rele discusses how being a woman affects one’s journalistic practice. She speaks with Kiran Nazish, the founding director of the Coalition For Women in Journalism, a global support and advocacy organization for women journalists, and Sitara Thalia Ambrosio, a German photojournalist on the Polish-Ukrainian border.

This podcast episode was produced by IPI as part of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), a Europe-wide mechanism which tracks, monitors and responds to violations of press and media freedom in EU Member States and Candidate Countries.

IPI speaks with new OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Teresa Ribeiro and IPI Executive Director Barbara Trionfi about concrete actions several actors – from governments to the judiciary as well as news outlets – should adopt to combat one a growing threats to press freedom.

Both share the recommendations and suggestions contained in OSCE’s Resource Guide, launched late last year as part of the project Safety of Female Journalists Online (#SOFJO) and IPI’s Newsrooms Ontheline hub, a resource centre for journalists and media organisations that, among other resources, features a specific protocol for newsrooms and video tutorials for journalists to cope with the effects of online harassment.

Media freedom is under renewed threat in Poland, where the Law and Justice party is waging a multi-pronged attack on independent and critical media.

Recent developments are leading to growing concerns that the EU’s fifth most populous state is heading further down the path forged by Hungary and causing fresh headaches in Brussels on how to respond.

In the sixth episode of IPI’s podcast ‘The Press Freedom Files’, IPI Advocacy Officer Jamie Wiseman talks with guests Piotr Stasiński, deputy editor of Poland’s biggest daily newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza, and Anna Woichik, a journalist at the investigative news outlet OKO.press.

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.

After the surprise acquittal of the alleged mastermind in the 2018 murder of Slovak journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová, what are the next steps in the fight for justice?

The International Press Institute (IPI) launches today its new podcast series on global press freedom developments, “The Press Freedom Files”. The series’s first episode focuses on the aftermath of the Kuciak verdict on September 3.

Guests Beata Balogová, editor-in-chief of the leading Slovak daily SME, and Pavla Holcová of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) join IPI Deputy Director Scott Griffen, who observed the trial proceedings, to analyse the impact of the court’s decision, public trust in the Slovak justice system and whether impunity in the case can be prevented.

“I don’t think society will accept a situation in which the mastermind of the Kuciak murder escapes punishment”, Balogová says.