Attempts To Silence Journalists Increase In Europe: CPJ

The Committee to Protect Journalists says the European Union needs to do more to protect media workers adding that Reporters across Europe are working under increasingly challenging conditions with attempts to silence them growing seadily.

According to an extensive report released on Wednesday, the US-based body said that while the European Union has introduced laws to support media freedom over the years, progress in finding sustainable solutions to combat threats against journalists within the bloc has been slow.

The report went on to state that some governments used the COVID-19 pandemic to control the media, including restricting access to journalists and withholding public-interest information, adding that Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has tested the EU’s ability to protect journalist safety.

More than 10 journalists were killed in Ukraine last year while many in Russia have been targeted by Moscow’s wartime censorship laws. In its world press freedom index, nine of the top 10 countries are in Europe, but the CPJ argues that the environment is getting bleaker.

Tom Gibson, CPJ’s Europe representative, told Newsmen that Journalism and journalists were under threat like never before. If we look at the conditions in Europe, the intention to try to silence journalists has increased.

He said they have also seen a daily increase in online harassment and digital threats against journalists, including threats from very rich and powerful individuals who want to silence them through vexatious lawsuits called SLAPP – or strategic lawsuit against public participation.

Gibson lamented the lack of support for independent media, describing what he called “media capture” in some EU nations with some governments seeking to control media by financing them and undermining independent journalism.

In September 2022, the European Commission introduced the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), seeking to protect “protect media pluralism and independence in the EU”.

But according to Gibson, some EU nations are actually putting up a bit of a fight to stop the EMFA from being adopted, since it addresses threats of “media capture”, and is also an anti-SLAPP directive.

The CPJ noted that while the European Parliament has set up a committee to investigate alleged breaches of EU law in the use of surveillance software, better solutions are needed. For example, Gibson warned that some regulations aimed at tackling online surveillance threaten encryption.

In Greece, journalists Thanasis Koukakis, Stavros Malichoudis and Eliza Triantafillou say they have become targets of state-sanctioned surveillance because of their work.