The Centre for Media Pluralism and Freedom (CMPF) published on Thursday 23 July a worrying report (Media Pluralism Monitor 2020): described as a “warning sign” by the Vice-President of the Commission responsible for Values and Transparency, Vera Jourova, this dossier details on nearly 200 pages the risks for media pluralism observed, in 2018 and 2019, in the EU Member States as well as in the United Kingdom, Albania and Turkey.
Firstly, it appears that the ‘basic protection’ of journalists has deteriorated since the publication by the last CMPF report in 2017.
Poor working conditions for journalists, insufficient protection for whistleblowers and the increasing number of threats to which they are exposed are presented as three of the main risks observed in this area in all the States evaluated.
“It is worrisome that threats to journalists often come from politicians”, the text also emphasises.
The report also points to the lack of transparency of online platforms in justifying their content moderation policies: a shortcoming presented as the main source of risks threatening the protection of freedom of expression on the web.
“Digital safety has become a serious concern for journalists”, the report says, referring in particular to cases of online harassment – of which women journalists are the primary victims, it adds.
The CMPF also deplores growing economic threats to media pluralism. Risks related to commercial and shareholder influence on editorial content have also increased since 2017. Only five countries (Denmark, France, Germany, Portugal and the Netherlands) are ‘low risk’ on this point, the other 25 countries being considered ‘medium’ or ‘high’ risk.
The situation has also deteriorated in terms of inclusiveness: access to the media for minorities and women remains difficult. In particular, the report points out that women continue to be seriously under-represented in media management. They are far less numerous among the experts in the media landscape in the 30 countries evaluated.
Finally, the same negative record applies to political independence. Bulgaria, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Turkey are poor performers in this respect.
The editor of the Hungarian news website Index, Szabolcs Dull, was sacked on Wednesday 22 July after reporting last month that he was under external pressure.
More than 70 journalists resigned on Friday, saying the decision by Index chairman László Bodolai against their editor was “unacceptable”.
The Commission, which said it was committed to working for better working conditions for journalists, assured that the results of the report (https://bit.ly/2BvCIyU ) would feed into its Action Plan for Democracy, expected by the end of the year. (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)