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News related to press and media freedom coming from selected and reliable sources. News items are gathered and listed via an RSS feed
A Government white paper from DCMS and the Home Office on internet safety is anticipated in the coming weeks, and is expected to consider the need for a social media regulator of some kind. Various reports have weighed in on this issue, most recently the final report from the UK House of Commons DCMS Select Committee’s inquiry into Disinformation and […]
Source:
Media Policy Project
Following more than two years of negotiations, the revised EU Audiovisual Media Services Directive was adopted in November 2018, aiming to create a more level playing field between traditional television and newer on-demand and video-sharing services. Joan Barata, Consulting Intermediary Liability Fellow at the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School, explains some of the challenges around the Directive’s […]
Source:
Media Policy Project
by Pavla Holcová and Eva Kubániová
The offer was straightforward and financially attractive: Kill a man in return for 50,000 euros in cash and the forgiveness of more than 20,000 euros in debt. Zoltán Andruskó, a Slovak pizzeria operator, quickly accepted – a decision that forever changed both his life and the history of Slovakia.
Photo: Edin Pasovic, OCCRP
The woman Andruskó said offered the deal was Alena Zsuzsová, an Italian translator and fixer who worked for one of Slovakia’s richest men, Marián Kočner. Sitting together in a car outside her house, Zsuzsová gave Andruskó the details: a name, a couple of…
Source:
European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF)
by Jane Whyatt
From Facebook’s home town of Palo Alto in Silicon Valley to the little Slovakian village of Martin, people are gathering to remember Ján Kuciak and Martina Kušnírová.
The organisers of For a Decent Slovakia. Photo: Za slusne Slovensko
Organised by Za slusne Slovensko (For a decent Slovakia), the demonstrations on 21.2.2019 are being held in memory of the investigative journalist and his fiancée.
Already in the months since the assassinations the civil rights movement has brought hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets. The protests have led to the resignation of former Prime Minister Robert Fico and members of…
Source:
European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF)
Turkey: Cumhuriyet convictions a further blow to the rule of law
Press freedom and the rule of law in Turkey suffered yet another blow yesterday. In a detrimental ruling, an appeals court in Istanbul upheld the guilty verdicts and sentencing of independent newspaper, Cumhuriyet’s journalists and staff members.
Defence Lawyers in Cumhuriyet trial, April 2018 @ Murat Başol
The defendants who were charged with “assisting a terrorist organisation whilst not being a member” and “propaganda of a terrorist organisation” on 26 April 2018 were handed prison sentences of between two years and six months, and eight years and 1 month. According to…
Source:
European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF)
by Jane Whyatt
Shock waves shook Europe a year ago when Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová were shot dead at their new home near Bratislava. It had all the signs of a mafia contract killing. And it triggered great political upheaval.
Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators poured onto the streets. They demanded justice for the murdered journalist and an end to the EU fraud, corruption and organised crime he had been investigating. Now Slovakia has a new prime minister, new culture and interior ministers, and a new police chief. Four suspects have been charged in connection with the murders…
Source:
European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF)
On behalf of the undersigned media freedom organisations, representing thousands of journalists and human rights activists across Europe, we urge the Slovak authorities to immediately start examining state responsibility in the failure to prevent the assassination of Ján Kuciak.
Tomorrow marks a full year since Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová were murdered in Slovakia. Kuciak was investigating cross-border corruption and links between powerful people and various mafia networks.
Since February 2018, we have closely monitored press and media freedom in Slovakia. We welcome the arrests of suspects who have now been charged in connection with Kuciak’s and Kušnírová’s murder.
However, a…
Source:
European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF)
by Jane Whyatt
Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbàn continues to defy the European Union’s attempts to curb the political takeover of independent media.
Viktor Orban. Photo:dpa
His State of the Nation address accuses EU leaders, especially Frans Timmermans „a socialist appointed by George Soros“ (the millionaire Hungarian philanthropist) of interfering in national politics.
Orban has already closed down the Soros-backed Central European University in Budapest. The entire higher education institution has been forced to re-locate to Vienna.
In his speech he urged Hungarians to reject immigration and instead to have more babies. To encourage them, he now offers a preferential loan of 10 million forints
(31,500…
Source:
European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF)
by Gabor Polyak, MERTEK Media Monitor
Through its transformation of the media system and dissemination of hateful and scare-mongering propaganda, the Fidesz government in Hungary created a situation in which opposition views could not even reach significant portions of the electorate.
Viktor Orban. Photo:dpa
The resultant public discourse was completely devoid of rational debates.This restructuring sought to make the interest groups in Fidesz’s extremely complex economic network easier to control and finance. This kind of consolidation was most obvious in the media market, where a colossal media monstrosity was created which extends to all media segments and all media audiences.
The aftermath…
Source:
European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF)
Recent efforts from the European Commission to tackle online disinformation include incentivising technology platforms and online advertisers to adopt codes of conduct. Nicole Darabian, MSc Media and Communication Governance student (2018/19) at the LSE, reflects on the self-regulatory measures proposed by the Code of Practice on Online Disinformation. Disinformation – often described as “fake news” – and fears surrounding its usage as a […]
Source:
Media Policy Project