OSCE:Not the time for celebrating the Freedom of the Media

Teresa Ribeiro OSCE Representative

Rome/Vienna [ENA] On 19 May 2022 OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Teresa Ribeiro, in her bi-annual statement to the members of the OSCE Permanent Council on the 25th Anniversary of the Mandate she holds said there is nothing to celebrate. “After my report to the Permanent Council in November last year, for a brief moment I cherished the hope that I could come back on a slightly positive note this time.

Today, with the aggressive attack of the Russian Federation on the sovereign state of Ukraine taking a terrible toll on the lives and livelihoods of the Ukrainian people, and on security and media freedom in our region, there is nothing to celebrate. My slogan for this year ‘There is no security without media freedom’ could not ring truer than it does these days.” The Representative referred in her statement to the terrible situation of media workers in Ukraine, who have been injured, abducted, attacked, and lost their lives while doing their work. “I pay tribute to all those brave journalists who keep us informed about developments on the ground, including serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.

Let me underline the duty to protect media workers and express my gratitude to all those local and international actors who are doing their best to secure journalists’ safety. Such aid needs to be long-term and suited to the situation on the ground.” In her report, the Representative also commented on the situation in the Russian Federation, where the most severe crackdown on free speech and media freedom of the last 25 years has been witnessed. “The Russian authorities have systematically violated OSCE principles and commitments regarding media freedom. This has resulted in a situation of censorship and the almost complete isolation of Russian citizens from any form of independent information.

They are deprived of some of their most fundamental rights: their freedom to seek and receive information of all kinds, and their freedom to share their opinions and to express themselves.” The current situation does not only pose a threat to the 144 million people living in the Russian Federation, it is a threat to our common information space and security in the OSCE region, the Representative stated in her report. She went on to talk about how the actions by the Russian authorities might be used by other nations as a pretext to strengthen their clampdown on the media in their own countries.

The Representative pointed to the fact that journalism across national borders has suffered greatly, while also remarking the many limitations to media freedom in the national context. “Taken together, these limitations form a systemic approach that silences critical voices and dismantles media pluralism. This includes restrictions on media workers’ ability to perform their journalistic duties, the public’s right to access independent sources of information and the rise of media capture, when many media outlets in one country come under control of a few companies or persons, sometimes with close connections to the ones in power."

In her report, the Representative touched upon the troublesome practice of news website hacking, the use of surveillance software against journalists and the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on freedom of expression and media freedom. She addressed the increasing use of violence and legal harassment against journalists, particularly female media workers, and highlighted the dreadful situation in Belarus, where many journalists have been sentenced, arrested or detained for doing their work.

“We are witnessing an unprecedented regress in media freedom and a severe clamp down on independent reporting across the OSCE region. And we cannot assume that this will be without severe consequences for our societies, our democracies and our common security,” Ribeiro said. The report can be found here: https://www.osce.org/representative-on-freedom-of-media/518631