In its 2022 report published on Tuesday 7 March, the Council of Europe’s ‘Platform to promote the protection of journalism and safety of journalists’ is critical of a continuous deterioration of press freedom since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, which goes hand in hand with a “war” against journalism.
The following were identified in 2022: 74 alerts about physical attacks on journalists (26% of the total 289 alerts), 41 alerts about detention and imprisonment of journalists (14%, a figure that has increased by 60% - Poland and Georgia are cited), 94 alerts about harassment and intimidation of journalists (32%) and a further 80 alerts about other acts that have a negative effect on media freedom (28%).
Thirteen journalists were killed in 2022 (the highest death toll since the platform was created in 2015), including at least 12 during the conflict in Ukraine and one in Turkey, Güngör Arslan, who was shot dead in front of his newspaper’s office in Izmir.
Also examined are: the introduction of legislation restricting journalists’ freedom, monitoring of their communications, fake news and disinformation, misuse of the judicial system to repress or intimidate, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs), pressure on public service media and cases of media capture.
The report welcomes the initiatives for media freedom and pluralism taken by the European Commission in 2022, but regrets their limited scope and fears the “likely negative” reaction of some Member States who “jealously protect their sovereignty” in this area.
The low national response rate (16%) to the 282 alerts of 2021 “dismayed” the platform’s partner organisations.
Link to the 2022 report: https://aeur.eu/f/5o4 (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)