World PRESS FREEDOM DAY 2017

03/05/2017

Freedom of press is the precondition of other political liberties

 

Once again the recurrence of the World Press Freedom Day reminds us that no progress at all has been made in order to promote and protect one of the most important human rights. The opposite occurred and is happening. Journalists committed to perform their job in order to prove the truth have been killed and many colleagues are in jail. Not only the unbelievable anti-democratic change  in Turkey is deeply worrying  but also what is happening in certain Member States of the European Union must be condemned. Also in Russia, Belarus and other neighbourhood-countries media are working under dominant control of governments.

But to condemn is also the attitude of governments and European institutions too, which after issuing press releases to condemn infringements of press freedom don’t take concrete actions. Rules are not enough, actions are needed to stop this cancer of society. To threaten is not enough, disregard of freedom of press must be punished with loss of rights to vote in the EU-institutions.

EJ strongly condemns all kind of limitation of freedom of the press and do what it can to support and promote this fundamental right. Freedom of expression and information is the most basic right. It is a precondition for the preservation of all other political liberties. We are again calling to all European institutions to pay more attention to these principals.

PM- RHK