Mapping Media Freedom Monitoring Report: January - June 2024

In the first half of 2024, the MapMF recorded 474 alerts across the 27 EU member states and 282 alerts in the eight candidate countries. 

2024 has been a significant year due to the elections. There has been a worrying increase in the number of threats targeting journalists. Journalists and news outlets have faced harassment and smear campaigns by public officials, political parties, and private individuals. There have been instances of physical violence in Turkey, Serbia, Germany and France. 

Editorial interference also increased within this period. The perpetrators of such incidents among the EU member states were mostly private individuals. An increasing trend in online attacks was also noticed. 

In the 8 EU candidate countries, intimidation and threats remained the most common type of attack. Arrest, detention, or imprisonment was the second most frequent type of attack in candidate countries, especially Turkey. Hacking and online harassment remain a very common form of violence, which makes it difficult to track down the perpetrators . Overall, the judiciary, police, and state security ranked second among the perpetrators in curbing media freedom. 

MFRR documented 18 alarming cases of legal proposals curbing media freedom. These proposals were disguised mostly as protecting sovereignty or increasing transparency. Key cases were noted in Georgia, Slovakia, Albania, Italy, Lithuania, and Hungary. Italy, France, Moldova, Turkey, and Croatia have introduced legislative measures that weaken public service broadcasters or impose restrictions on media independence. These legal proposals and laws represent a coordinated effort to stifle independent journalism. On June 20, 2024, Slovakia’s parliament passed a controversial bill to dissolve the public broadcaster RTVS and replace it with a new entity, STVR. Critics argued that this breached the EMFA. Similar attempts to reform public service media have been seen in Lithuania. The “Balboni Bill” in Italy and the "family values" bill in Georgia are other restrictive attempts to curb media freedom. 

Spoofing attacks have also increased. MapMF documented 17 spoofing cases targeting 32 media professionals or organizations within the first 6 months of 2024. Denmark has seen a rise in deep fakes. Deep Fakes have also targeted journalists in France and Belgium. MapMF recorded five cases in Ukraine, Poland, and France related to spoofing by Russian social media channels.

The report also provides specific insights into the state of media freedom in six selected EU Member States and four candidate countries. They were selected based on worrying developments.