New OSCE report on media freedom

The new OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatovic, released her inaugural report to the OSCE Permanent Council on July 29. The report, issued annually by the OSCE, provides an overview of particular incidences threatening media freedom in OSCE participating states. Additionally, this report includes the Representative’s interventions on the respective issues, as well as a presentation of the Office’s future plans.

The report acknowledges that restrictions on media freedom do exist throughout the OSCE region although their manifestations differ from region to region. Existing or potential threats to media freedom in the form of censorship, limitations to journalistic protection, as well as attacks on journalists, have been identified particularly in Central Asia and the Middle East; however, threats have also been identified in several European democracies, including some countries that are covered by the MEDIADEM project.

In Italy, for example, a draft law on electronic surveillance and electronic eavesdropping is considered contradictory to OSCE commitments on the basis that it ‘could seriously hinder investigative journalism by criminalising the publishing of documents related to court proceedings, police investigations or leaked wiretrapped materials before the beginning of a trial’. The Representative’s intervention on this issue induced amendments that improve the bill by including the authorisation to publish transcripts of a criminal investigation before the beginning of a trial when considered relevant by investigating magistrates.

Regarding Greece, the murder of journalist Socratis Golias by unknown (at the time) assailants was highlighted and condemned as an attempt to intimidate free speech. Concern was also expressed about a warning issued by the National Council for Radio and Television to a minority radio station in Greece that broadcasts in Turkish (Tele Radio). The warning stated that in order for the station to be considered for a broadcasting licence, the main broadcasting language should be Greek, which in turn posses limitations to minorities’ right to information.

Attention was also drawn to a draft law under consideration by the Estonian Parliament, which might allow for too many exceptions to the journalists’ right to not disclose the identity of their sources, as well as Spain’s violation of Article 10 ECHR on the right to freedom of expression in a case involving King Hassan II of Morocco. Aside from the EU, the report emphasised the ‘high number of criminal processions against journalists in Turkey who cover issues of a sensitive nature, including terrorism’, and major threats for freedom of expression stemming from the Internet Law, on which the block of Youtube and several other Google services are based.

Nonetheless, the report also contains some positive developments. The OSCE Representative welcomes a recent legislative proposal by the German Minister of Justice that aims to strengthen media freedom through better protection of journalists’ confidential sources. In Spain, court rulings that ‘recognise the important role of investigative journalism in revealing information of public interest, were also noted.

The OSCE report can be consulted here.