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Ukraine War Increases Media Freedom Violations in Europe: Report

Posted on February 7, 2023February 23, 2023 by Ivana Jeremic

There was an increase in media freedom violations last year including ten deaths of journalists – nine during the Russian invasion of Ukraine and one in Turkey, said the 2022 Monitoring Report published on Tuesday by Media Freedom Rapid Response, a project that monitors such violations in EU states and candidate countries.

“What we have observed in the past year was definitely a dark shadow cast over media freedom through the fog of war in Ukraine, resulting from full-scale Russian invasion, that also led to a steep increase in the number of violations reported on our Mapping Media Freedom database, including the unfortunate loss of nine lives in the country,” Gurkan Ozturan, Media Freedom Rapid Response coordinator at the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom, told BIRN.

Ozturan said that across Europe there were widespread online attacks as well as legal harassment of journalists, while reporters also faced problems when covering environmental issues.

The report said that Media Freedom Rapid Response registered 813 ‘alerts’ last years – incidents that affects at least 1,339 journalists, media workers or outlets.

“Almost half of these alerts originating in the [EU] candidate countries which shows that there is room for improvement in this field. It is crucial to underline the fact that an independent, pluralistic media atmosphere is the basis of our rights,” Ozturan said.

Turkey was the worst EU candidate country for media rights violations, according to the report.

“2022 was another devastating year for press freedom in Turkey, as systemic repression of independent media continued. Mapping Media Freedom, MapMF recorded a total of 167 press freedom violations in Turkey, involving 362 persons or media entities,” the report said.

“Turkey continues to be one of the biggest jailers of journalists in the world. At the time of publishing, 41 journalists were imprisoned,” it added.

In Serbia, “the toxic environment” in which journalists have to work remains a concern, according to the report.

“Constantly fuelled by politicians and other media outlets, the labelling of journalists as ‘traitors’ or ‘enemies of the state’ encourages and legitimises additional intimidation from the public,” the report said.

Media Freedom Rapid Response recorded 41 alerts for Serbia involving 60 journalists or media outlets.

In Albania, “physical violence and verbal attacks on journalists were the gravest threats to press freedom in Albania in 2022”, the report said adding that 17 alerts involving 30 victims were recorded.

“Especially worrying was the number of incidents of police violence towards journalists, which was linked to seven out of the 17 violations (41 per cent) recorded on MapMF,” the report said.

It also highlighted what is said was Prime Minister Edi Rama’s worrying rhetoric about journalists.

Concerns were expressed about the situation in some EU countries in central and south-east Europe.

The report said that in Hungary, the ruling Fidesz party of Prime Minister Viktor Orban has overseen a systematic erosion of media pluralism over the past decade and used pandemic restrictions to hinder independent journalism.

“Media freedom and pluralism in Hungary remained highly challenging in 2022. While MapMF recorded a total of 11 press freedom violations involving 13 targets, these alone do not capture the wider and systemic challenges facing independent media. Over half (54.5 per cent) of the documented cases were legal incidents (six alerts),” the report said.

It recorded 21 alerts involving 28 victims in Poland.

“Legal threats to journalists remained a grave concern in Poland in 2022, accounting for nearly half (42.9 per cent) of the press freedom violations on MapMF registered in the country. Journalists were threatened with defamation lawsuits, and in three cases the lawsuits led to convictions,” the report said.

The report described the media environment in Greece in 2022 as worrying too.

“Press freedom in Greece continued its marked deterioration in 2022 amid a sprawling spyware scandal as well as several serious criminal charges and violent attacks on journalists. MapMF recorded a total of 42 violations involving 63 persons or entities related to media. The safety of journalists remained a serious concern after multiple physical attacks,” it said.

Five Journalists Killed in First Month of Ukraine War

Posted on March 24, 2022January 26, 2023 by Ivana Jeremic

A month after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces invaded Ukraine, at least five media workers are among hundreds of civilians who have been killed so far, raising fears that journalists are being intentionally targeted for attack.

Oksana Baulina, a Russian journalist working for independent news site The Insider, was the most recent to be killed earlier this week.

Baulina, who formerly worked for Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s anti-corruption organisation before leaving Russia, “died under fire in Kyiv”, The Insider said on Wednesday. “She was filming the destruction after Russian troops shelled the Podil district of the capital,” it added.

Media freedom campaign group Reporters Without Borders last week called on the chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, who is probing war crimes in Ukraine, to also investigate crimes committed against journalists by Russian forces.

“At least eight journalists or media crews have been deliberately targeted by Russian forces or have been the victims of indiscriminate bombardment,” Reporters Without Borders said.

On March 1, Ukrainian camera operator Yevhenii Sakun was killed during a Russian strike on a television tower in Kyiv – one of a series of allegedly deliberate strikes on radio and TV towers since the start of the war, aimed at silencing Ukrainian media.

US journalist and film-maker Brent Renaud died on March 13 when the car in which he was travelling with his colleagues came under fire in the town of Irpin.

The following day, Franco-Irish camera operator Pierre Zakrzewski and Ukrainian journalist Oleksandra Kuvshynova, who were both reporting the war for Fox News, were killed when their car was hit by gunfire in Horenka, a village some 20 miles from Kyiv.

Reporters Without Borders has said that a TV crew from Britain’s Sky News, a Czech team from the Voxpot media outlet, a Swiss journalist and an Al Araby TV crew have also been intentionally targeted in attacks.

Several other journalists have gone missing or have been detained by Russian forces since the war began, including Viktoria Roshchina, a reporter for Ukraine’s Hromadske TV, who was released on Monday after ten days in captivity.

“Multiple journalists have gone missing or been detained under murky circumstances since the war began, and these incidents only serve to harass the press and stifle independent reporting,” said Gulnoza Said, Europe and Central Asia programme coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Two Associated Press journalists in the besieged port city of Mariupol have described how managed to escape what they believed was a targeted attempt by Russian soldiers to detain them because of their graphic reporting of Moscow’s sustained assault on civilian areas, including the killing of children.

“They had a list of names, including ours,” wrote AP journalist Mstyslav Chernov after he and his colleague managed to flee.

EU Presses Montenegro to Pull Plug on Russian Media

Posted on March 10, 2022January 26, 2023 by Ivana Jeremic

The European Union urged Montenegro on Wednesday to suspend broadcasting of Russian Today and Sputnik in line with the bloc’s restrictive measures on Russia.

On March 1, Montenegro said it had joined European Union sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine war, but most of the restrictive measures, including a ban on Russian media, remain on hold.

“We urge the government to … provide a legal basis for the competent national authorities, including the Electronic Communications Agency, AEM, to be able to take the necessary decisions,” the EU press release said.

On March 2, the EU, which Montenegro wishes to join, suspended the broadcasting of Sputnik and Russia Today in Member States, accusing them of spreading disinformation and manipulating information as an operational tool of Russia’s assault on Ukraine.

The EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrel, said that Russian state-owned media were essential to bringing forward and supporting Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine.

Montenegro also committed itself also to ban Russian overflight of its airspace and access to its airports and to ban transactions with the Russian Central Bank and several other banks.

But so far, banning Russian flights is the only measure actually confirmed by the government.

On March 3, the Minister of Public Administration, Digital Society and Media, Tamara Srzentic called on the government to suspend Russia Today and Sputnik broadcasts.

The proposal was postponed reportedly because it was suspected that such a decision would not have enough support from within the coalition government.

“Montenegro will follow EU measures against Russia, and therefore restrictions related to stopping the spread of disinformation and propaganda through the media, which are recognized for publishing false news,” Srzentic told the daily Vijesti on March 3.

According to Montenegrin law on international restrictive measures, ministries propose measures but the government has to officially confirm them before implementation. After confirmation, the government sends a list of measures to state institutions, which must implement them.

By law, the Electronic Communications Agency can prohibit broadcasts if media promote hatred or endanger state security.

But the Association of Montenegrin Journalists on March 3 opposed the ban, likening it to censorship. “Banning the Russian media in Montenegro is wrong and w expresses fear that the domino effect will lead to censorship of freedom of expression throughout Europe,” it said.

Russia enjoys significant support in multi-ethnic and multi-confessional Montenegro, especially among the large Serbian community which make up just under 30 per cent of the population.

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