Home Publications Strategic Affairs Freedom of Press: One of the biggest challenges in front of the EU (working paper)
Strategic Affairs

Freedom of Press: One of the biggest challenges in front of the EU (working paper)

Posted on 9 May 2021
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 By Alvaro Perez Cardenes, The European Institute for International Law and International Relations.

It is a really well-known fact that having a free and independent media is one of the most crucial aspects for having a full and healthy democracy. Having a robust ‘fourth estate’ is key for the democratic process, due to the fact that it enables the adequate participation of the citizenship in this process, as they need unbiased information in order to be able to make conscious and free decisions. Not only that, having a free media is essential for maintaining a healthy democracy as they are the ones in charge of uncovering events like human rights violations, corruption or the misuse of power. Therefore, it has been argued that reporting is one of the most important factors for holding governments to account (Muižnieks, 2014, p.98). Accordingly, different institutions have tried to protect the freedom of the press through both national, as well as international laws, as it is protected for instance in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). What is more, even the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) clearly stated that maintaining media pluralism was crucial not only for the European Union’s internal market but also for its democracy (Muižnieks, 2014, p.98; European Parliament, 2015).

Nevertheless, in spite of this importance, recently the freedom and independence of the media has been under severe attacks from different member states in the EU, as they have been trying for instance to silence independent journalists who express critical views of their government. The best example of this is Hungary, as under the presidency of Victor Orbán it has seen how a significant majority of the media in the country is now controlled by the government and the population has it increasingly difficult to be able to access independent information in the country (Ruiz Devesa, Yoncheva, Dobrev and Kammerevert, 2021), for instance Orbán recently established in Hungary the  Central European Press and Media Foundation (KESMA), which consists of several pro-Orbán media outlets that have heavily benefitted from government advertising. According to the Hungary-based watchdog Mertek Media Monitor, KESMA controls an estimate of 476 media outlets, which are used as propaganda machines in favour of the government and its allies like Marine Le Pen or Matteo Salvini in exchange for economic help from the government, as it has been argued that the majority of the organisations, which KESMA has control of would not be able to financially survive without the help provided, for example according to the website Atlatszo, it has been estimated that since 2010 the Orbán-led government has spent over $300 million on advertising campaigns. KESMA not only weakens the media landscape as it floods it with pro-government outlets, but it also severely cripples the free opposition media, particularly financially, mainly due to the fact that it has been claimed that private businesses decide to publicise themselves in KESMA-controlled outlets as they are afraid of a reprisal of the government if they were to do it on an independent one (Ariès, 2019). Not only that, Orbán has been able to take advantage of events like the Covid-19 pandemic, as he has used public health concerns as an excuse for further repressing free media. During this crisis Orbán has been able to pass laws which criminalise the spread of alleged false information, with up to five years in prison after he was granted emergency powers in 2020. What is more, it has been reported that journalists have been unable to access hospitals or even prevented from talking to health workers. The combination of these different policies has resulted in Hungary’s independent media not being able to carry on with their work, which is best exemplified with the loss of the broadcasting license of Klubradio, which was Hungary’s leading independent radio station. Therefore, it is not hard to believe that Hungary not even been considered a full democracy anymore, according to some observers (Speier, 2021; Garton Ash, 2021).

Hungary is not the only EU country that is severely restricting the ability of the media to be free and independent. Poland is also heading in the same path, as the government has also been trying to make the situation as difficult as possible for independent media to be able to work in the country, as the Polish government has started a new tax against independent media, which is harsher even than the one that Orbán passed in Hungary. Not only that, but the government has also started taking control also of media outlets in order to turn them into propaganda machines, for instance PKN Orlen energy group, which is owned by the government, recently purchased several regional and local newspapers (Ruiz Devesa, Yoncheva, Dobrev and Kammerevert, 2021; Speier, 2021). What is more, the Polish government has been able to use their control over the judicial system to further repress the media landscape as they have used article 212 of the penal code to go against journalists on defamation charges. Even though, up to this moment only fines have been handed from the use of this article, it still allows sentences for up to one year in prison, which has resulted on increasing self-censorship among journalists (Reporters Without Borders, 2020). Slovenia is another country that, particularly recently has been worsening its performance with respect to freedom of the press. Since his return to power president Janez Janša has been repeatedly attacking the media, especially on social media where he has been badgering journalist and he has even accused them of spreading lies. Not only that, since his return to office, the Slovenian government has also significantly reduced the funds for the Slovenian Press Agency (STA), threatening its capacity to carry out their duties (Ruiz Devesa, Yoncheva, Dobrev and Kammerevert, 2021). Nevertheless, even though countries like Hungary, Poland or Slovenia do not count with a particularly good track record in their relationship with the media, there is still a country with an even worse one in the EU, that is Bulgaria, which have been categorised as “the black sheep of the EU”, as it is located in 111th place in the World Free Press Index. In this position, Bulgaria is closer in the ranking to countries like Congo and Afghanistan than any other EU Member State. As it happens with Hungary, in Bulgaria there has been a substantial acquisition of the control of media outlets by very few players connected to the government, a clear example of this is the Nova TV, after its acquisition by oligarch Kiril Domuschiev, its coverage dramatically shifted to a very pro-government position. What is more, the Bulgarian government repeatedly tries to meddle with the work of journalist, for instance recently the public radio management in Bulgaria tried to suspend the well-known government critic Silvia Velikova (Ruiz Devesa, Yoncheva, Dobrev and Kammerevert, 2021; Gotev, 2020; RWB, 2020). Even though, the Eastern countries of the EU are the ones with the worst record on their press freedom, things in Western Europe are also worsening in this respect, as countries like Germany or Luxembourg position in the press freedom index fell in 2020 (Bayer, 2021). In addition, in countries like Spain, Italy, Austria or Greece there has been a serious increase in attacks against reporters, especially coming from far-right parties or like in the case of Spain also coming from protesters as it has been reported during some pro-independence demonstrations in Catalonia (RWB, 2020; Henley, 2021). 

As it has been stated, there are different tactics which have been used by European governments in order to take control over the media landscape and silence journalists which are critical of these governments and their actions. Firstly, especially after the economic crisis of 2008 various governments like Hungary or Poland have tried to take control over the free media in their country by accumulating the ownership of media companies in the hands of a few pro-government individuals and subsequently using them as mouthpieces and propaganda machines for the government. Moreover, they use their control over advertising in order to further hinder the ability to compete of those media outlets, which decide to remain independent (Muižnieks, 2014, pp.98). Some European governments have also used their legislative power in order to go against and punish independent media, thus encouraging these outlets to self-censor (Press-ECPMF, 2021). In addition, various governments have been able to use events like the Covid-19 pandemic for their own advantage as they have used public health concerns as an excuse for passing laws for further cracking down on independent media (Speier, 2021). Journalists, not only in the Eastern half of the EU but also in its Western half have experienced a dramatic increase in violence against them, especially coming from far-right parties in these countries, which promote a discourse that harasses and tries to discredit the job their work. Not only that, but there are also several examples in countries like France or Spain, where journalists which were covering demonstrations in these countries were assaulted by protesters (Henley, 2021; RWB, 2020). This increase in violence have even resulted in the death of various journalists while carrying out their work like Lyra McKee in Northern Ireland, Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta, Ján Kuciak in Slovakia and Giorgos Karaivaz in Athens, who was shot six times from a motorbike in what has been called by the police as an execution-style killing (Henley, 2021; RWB, 2020).

The European Union positions itself as one of the main defenders of democratic values in the world. Nevertheless, since some time inside its own borders there has been an increasing cracking down on one of the main aspects of a healthy democracy, which is having a free and independent media. Therefore, it is imperative that the EU uses the mechanisms that they have in order to stop the further erosion of independent media inside the EU, as well as to ensure that the situation in countries like Bulgaria, Hungary or Poland is returned to EU standards. The European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen recently stated that “Europe stands for freedom. And freedom of the press may be the most sacred of all. Journalists must be able to work safely.” The EU should stop using words and they should start taking action (Ruiz Devesa, Yoncheva, Dobrev and Kammerevert, 2021; Henley, 2021).

There are various recommendations on how the EU should take action in trying to solve this problem. Firstly, and most importantly, the EU needs to acknowledge the severity of the problem that is facing, due to the fact that is acknowledging a problem is a crucial step in trying to solve it (Muižnieks, 2014, pp.98). As stated by Commissioner Breton in the European Parliament, the EU needs new ways to “increase transparency, independence and accountability around actions affecting control and freedom of the press,”. Therefore, the EU should consider actions focused on achieving this objective, like for instance modifying the EU law. The law at EU level should expand its view on the role of the media, as it should not only consider them as economic actors but needs to view the role of independent journalists as a public good, whose protection is absolutely paramount. It is very clear that the EU certainly needs to expand its toolbox and play a more active role in ensuring the freedom and independence of the media, especially as it has been proven that various governments will take advantage of the EU remaining in the side-lines to attack the independence of the ‘fourth estate’. There are already proposals put forward for protecting the media, like the idea of a European Media Freedom Act, which was advanced by Commissioners Thierry Breton and Věra Jourová. Nevertheless, the EU should make the drafting of these new laws as broad as possible and it should encourage the participation of different groups and organisation of the civil society as well as journalists (Press-ECPMF, 2021; IPI, 2021). What is more, the EU should show their full commitment to this cause by for example appointing a European Commissioner with the duty of ensuring that the freedom of the media is maintained and even recovered in the countries where it has been severely damaged. Not only that, but the EU should also start implementing real changes that enable the current situation to be reverted, like using competition policy as a tool for ensuring the independence and diversity of media outlets, as the EU could prevent the acquisition of significant amounts of media outlets by large corporations as these could constitute monopolies and conflicts of interest. In addition, the EU should learn from other countries, for example by passing a Magnitsky Act (Magnitsky sanctions are sanctions that for example, the president of the United States, and the British and Canadian prime ministers can implement like administrative and financial powers, such as visa bans or the freezing of assets, with the goal of blocking severe attacks of human rights), which would enable the EU to impose sanctions against those who go against the freedom of the press (RWB, 2019). Nonetheless, one of the most crucial actions that the EU needs to take is stopping governments like those in Hungary or Poland from taking advantage of the EU benefits for their own advantage, for example Poland has used EU money to increase its investment on the Polish state television. However, the EU lost a great opportunity for this as it was unable to increase the controls attached to the EU-wide post-covid recovery fund and instead these countries will be receiving billions of euros with minimal supervision from the EU (Garton Ash, 2021).

The EU has made it repeatedly clear that it stands for democratic values and among them ensuring the freedom of the press. However, the EU is facing one of its most important challenges recently. Therefore, it is absolutely paramount that the EU starts confronting this challenge and giving it the importance that it deserves. The EU needs to ensure that high democratic standards are maintained inside its borders and that the member states understand that being inside the EU do not only imply benefits but also the duty of maintaining these standards (Ruiz Devesa, Yoncheva, Dobrev and Kammerevert, 2021).

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