EP news from DC: on the freedom of media

Hello,??

welcome to another edition of the European Parliament Liaison Office in Washington newsletter. I chose to write it this time on International Press Freedom Day, and I do it for multiple reasons. Not only because I am a former journalist and now in charge of our press and media relations in our office. I genuinely believe that without the work of journalists and freedom of speech, there is no democracy. The situation in the world is far from perfect. Still, it's been a pleasure following the media here and seeing their impact on the local and national levels.??

My colleagues have just published an interesting report on the EU-US action to support media freedom. They remind us that media freedom is an essential component of free and flourishing societies and central to the values-based European Union-United States relationship.??

"Despite the EU's firm commitment to media freedom, the 2020-2022 Commission rule of law reports and the European University Institute's 2022 Media Pluralism Monitor point to the increasing politicization of the media, worsening protection of the right to information, lack of media ownership transparency and eroding independence of media regulators" - they underline in the report. They mention that to counteract these trends, the Commission is prioritizing media freedom in its European democracy action plan, which goes beyond the EU by offering support to free and pluralistic media worldwide, with specific steps aimed at ensuring the safety of journalists.??

You can read this interesting research here:?https://europa.eu/!D94GJ4???

The European Parliament is committed to supporting the media also in very practical terms. Today, it officially launched the call for submissions for entries to the Daphne Caruana Galizia Prize for Journalism. This prize was named after a Maltese investigative journalist murdered in 2017. It rewards every year outstanding journalism that promotes or defends the core principles and values of the European Union such as human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, rule of law, and human rights. If you are interested to see who was awarded in the past and how to apply, please have a look here:?https://europa.eu/!7YQ4kD???

Members closely follow the media situation and try to react when the journalists are being mistreated, especially by undemocratic regimes. The European Parliament often brings attention to specific cases in their resolutions, debates, and interventions, like recently in the case of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovic who was jailed in Russia.???

The EP president Roberta Metsola reminded us today that "the reality is that journalists investigating uncomfortable truths are being targeted for doing their job".??

And this is even more risky for women. I had a chance to listen to a discussion this morning on how female journalists are being targeted and threatened online. Some of them decide to leave their profession for this reason, and as we know, less representation is a risk to freedom of speech. The discussion was in-person only, but I invite you to listen to a podcast by one of the co-organizers, the EU Delegation in Washington. They speak with the executive Director of the International Women's Media Foundation, Elisa Lees Mu?oz, on how serious is the situation of female reporters: bit.ly/3HvT2P0 ???

Thanks for reading,??

Karolina???