MEPs meeting in Strasbourg for the European Parliament’s plenary session sounded, the alarm on, Wednesday 14 December, about the situation of journalists in the EU. While they identified different threats, they all called for a better defence of press freedom.
Journalists at risk
Present at the discussion, the Czech Minister for European Affairs, Mikuláš Bek, and the EU Commissioner for Budget, Johannes Hahn, acknowledged that “obstacles to freedom of expression and freedom to inform are on the rise in Europe and in the world”.
“Three hundred and eleven media freedom violations were recorded in the first six months of this year by the Media Freedom Rapid Response project. Verbal attacks, including harassment and threats, were the most common types of violation, followed by legal incidents and physical attacks”, said Johannes Hahn. “While private individuals remained the main source of attacks on journalists and media workers, police and state security and government and public officials were also sometimes behind these attacks”.
It was in response to these findings, he recalled, that the European Commission put forward a recommendation on the safety of journalists (see EUROPE 12789/2 and 12792/28) as well as proposals for a directive to combat SLAPPs (see EUROPE 13081/18) and a ‘European Media Freedom Act’ (EMFA) (see EUROPE 13073/25).
Different enemies
While they were unanimous on the need to protect press freedom, MEPs differed when it came to identifying its enemies.
Jeroen Lenaers (EPP, Dutch) recalled that the threat is a “multi-headed monster”. Right-wing populists and Trump wannabes across Europe have made a sport of turning their voters against journalists taking great risks”, he said.
In the same vein, Sylvie Guillaume (S&D, French) recalled that, while attacks on journalists are manifold, they are particularly targeted “when their work concerns abuse of power, corruption, human rights violations or criminal activities”. However, in her view, “the Commission’s reports on the Rule of law do not sufficiently address this issue”.
Lastly, Fabienne Keller (Renew Europe, French), pointed to the issues of media funding and ownership, denouncing a period “where the press is bought up to better control our opinions”, advocating for “stronger public funding, to compensate for the media takeovers and their concentration”. (Original version in French by Hélène Seynaeve)