17/04/2020 (Agence Europe) – Stefan Schennach, rapporteur for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on media freedom and safety of journalists has warned that “in a number of Member States, governments are trying to shape media coverage of the health crisis”. “Under the pretext of wanting to avoid false information which can be harmful to public order, they prevent transparency and gag the critics”, including by using sanctions such as fines, police investigations and the expulsion of foreign correspondents. “Worse still, in some countries, the pandemic has served as a pretext for governments to adopt laws, decrees or decisions that may have a restrictive effect on the work of journalists even after the current crisis”, he said, naming Hungary, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, Armenia and Russia. He ended by saying that “the pandemic should not be an excuse to muzzle the press”. (VL)