The EU strives to promote press freedom around the world, but how free are journalists to report inside the bloc? Index shows press freedom deteriorating in Europe. [ Ссылка ] The annual report submitted by the "Reporters Without Borders" organization says that journalists around the world are finding it increasingly hard to investigate and report sensitive stories. And Europe is no exception.
Commissioner floats plan for EU 'media freedom act' next year.
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Better EU tools are needed to protect media freedom as a "pillar of democracy" rather than just a player in the national economy, EU Commission vice-president Věra Jourová said on Monday (3 May) to mark World Press Freedom Day.
Jourová said she was in discussions with commissioner Thierry Breton, responsible for the single market, to come up with a "media freedom act" next year to give the EU the means to protect press freedom across Europe.
Polish diplomats in solidarity with journalists repressed in Belarus.
“On World Press Freedom Day we stand in solidarity with independent media and journalists in Belarus, who have been going through unprecedented repressions. Press freedom is a fundamental value for society,” wrote the Permanent Representation of the Republic of Poland to the EU on Twitter.
At the end of April, the Court of Appeals in Minsk upheld the verdict in the case of Belsat journalists Katsyaryna Andreyeva and Darya Chultsova, both sentenced to two years in a penal colony for reporting on the dissolution of the protest in Minsk in November 2020.
On February 18, the first-instance court found both journalists guilty of organising activities violating public order. According to the prosecution, the journalists "led the protest" and paralysed public transport.
Human rights activists regard both journalists as political prisoners, demanding their immediate release.
Other journalists have also been arrested and detained in Belarus. At the beginning of April, the media reported that several were still behind bars.
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