From Meloni to Bolloré, press freedom (is at risk) in Europe

Monday, Aug 12, 2024

Il Sole 24 Ore

Media freedom is threatened across Europe by political interference, ownership concentration, and censorship attempts.

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[This is an automatically generated summary, for reference only]

Recent reports from Reporters Sans Frontières and various commissions have highlighted concerns regarding journalistic independence in Italy, noting issues such as threats against journalists covering sensitive topics and excessive media ownership concentration. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni defended her government’s stance while criticizing the RSF report as biased. Similarly, Ursula von der Leyen expressed concern over press freedom in a European Commission report on the rule of law. In response to criticism, Meloni accused Brussels of being influenced by disinformation. Conversely, some Italian media outlets criticized Meloni for blacklisting them and undermining press freedom.

In Spain, RSF’s latest report shows mixed results; while the country improved its ranking slightly, concerns persist over political polarization blurring the lines between news and opinion, and an increase in “slap lawsuits” against journalists. The 2015 organic law protecting citizen security is viewed by some legal experts as overly restrictive on democracy. There are ongoing discussions regarding reforms to this law.

In France, media concentration under industrial-political figures like Vincent BollorĂ© is noted for promoting ultra-conservative viewpoints across his extensive network of channels and publications. Furthermore, a new figure, Pierre-Edouard StĂ©rin, has unveiled a “Pericles plan” involving significant funding aimed at advancing far-right values and influencing media coverage to support nationalist political goals.

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PULSE is an initiative for cross-border collaborative journalism in Europe co-funded by the European Commission under Grant Agreement n. PO 4500158093.

PULSE is an initiative coordinated by OBCT that has been promoting intensive journalistic cross-border collaborations in Europe since 2024. Its main aim is to help strengthen the European public sphere by reporting on and telling stories from new and diverse perspectives.

At the heart of PULSE are 10 leading national news outlets (Delfi – Lithuania, Deník Referendum – Czechia, Der Standard – Austria, EfSyn – Greece, El Confidencial – Spain, Gazeta Wyborcza – Poland, HotNews – Romania, HVG – Hungary, Il Sole 24 Ore – Italy, Mediapool – Bulgaria) and three transnational organisations, including OBCT , n-ost and Voxeurop .

Additional outlets and journalists are involved as associate partners, including EUobserver , Føljeton (Denmark), H-Alter (Croatia), Levila (Estonia), Rubryka (Ukraine), and The Journal Investigates (Ireland).

PULSE is driven by a sort of virtual transnational newsroom made up of journalists from all the publications involved. It collaboratively produces new journalistic content on European issues on a daily basis, coming in many different languages. The editorial output amounts to over a thousand publications per year, mostly in article form.

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