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The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) welcomes the publication on Wednesday 13 July of the European Commission’s report on the rule of law. This third annual report highlights the threats to media pluralism and the safety of journalists in EU Member States. The EFJ called on the European Commission to adopt a binding and demanding Media Freedom Act to compel Member States to take action.

The third EU Rule of Law report features specific recommendations targeted at individual member states. Sixteen EU countries have been urged to take measures to protect journalists, media freedom and pluralism (see below). The findings of the report are building on a series of sources, including the Media Pluralism Monitor (MPM 2022), the Council of Europe Platform to Promote the Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists as well as the Mapping Media Freedom Platform.

For the first time, the report places particular emphasis on safeguarding the governance and editorial independence of public service media in Cyprus, Czechia, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. Also covered are threats to the physical and online safety of journalists and tackling the use of abusive lawsuits to silence journalists (SLAPPs).

“More safeguards are needed to ensure that the independence of public service media is protected, that public funding is adequate and not used to put political pressure on those media,” said Commission Vice-President for Values and Transparency, Věra Jourová.

Didier Reynders, European Commissioner for Justice, denounced the increasing threats against journalists in Europe. Since 2015, 15 journalists have been murdered in EU member states (in France, Malta, Greece, the Netherlands, Denmark, Poland, United Kingdom, Slovakia). The Commissioner denounced in particular those politicians who have made a habit of denigrating or threatening journalists.

The media focus of the Rule of Law report comes ahead of the publication of the European Media Freedom Act, scheduled for release in September, which is set to establish a legal framework for safeguarding media independence and pluralism in the European Union.

“The report shows that the protection of journalists, the independence of public media or regulators and media pluralism are deficient in more than one in two European states! This is a worrying alarm signal,” said the EFJ President Maja Sever. “Too many EU member states remain passive in the face of deteriorating working conditions for journalists and the decline of press freedom. We urge the European Commission to adopt a strong Media Freedom Act, which would concretely strengthen the protection of journalists and the independence of the media. It should strengthen the role of journalists and press councils in editorial content. Self-regulation should be the norm. It should also impose on the media industry more transparency and full respect for editorial autonomy.”

The EFJ President will soon meet Věra Jourová to discuss the content of the European Media Freedom Act. In the meantime, the EFJ calls on the European Commission to take concrete steps to encourage deficient Member States to adopt the necessary reforms.

These are the 16 member states that have received suggestions on how the media could be strengthened in the report’s country-specific recommendations:

Bulgaria

• Improve transparency in the allocation of state advertising, in particular with regard to state advertising contracted through intermediaries, such as media agencies.

Croatia

• Further strengthen the framework for a fair and transparent allocation of state advertising, by establishing clear criteria, good practices and oversight measures to guarantee the effective functioning of the new public tender procedure for local and regional media.
• Address the issue of strategic lawsuits against public participation targeted at journalists, including by addressing the abuse of legal provisions on defamation and encouraging awareness, taking into account European standards on the protection of journalists. 

Cyprus

• Strengthen the rules and mechanisms to enhance the independent governance of public service media taking into account European standards on public service media.

Czechia

• Complete the revision of legislation on asset declarations and on conflict of interests, including by clarifying the definition of beneficial ownership and progress with further reforms relating to transparency of information on media ownership.
• Strengthen the rules and mechanisms to enhance the independent governance of public service media taking into account European standards on public service media.

France

• Enhance the transparency of media ownership, in particular regarding complex shareholding structures, building on the existing legal safeguards.

Greece

• Establish legislative and other safeguards to improve the physical safety and working environment of journalists, in line with the recently adopted Memorandum of Understanding and taking into account European standards on the protection of journalists.

Hungary

• Introduce mechanisms to enhance the functional independence of the media regulatory authority taking into account European standards on the independence of media regulators.
• Strengthen the rules and mechanisms to enhance the independent governance and editorial independence of public service media taking into account European standards on public service media.
• Adopt legislation to ensure fair and transparent distribution of advertising expenditure by the state and state-owned companies.

Ireland

• Continue the reform of the Defamation Act to improve the professional environment for journalists taking into account European standards on the protection of journalists. 

Italy

• Introduce legislative and other safeguards to reform the regime on defamation, the protection of professional secrecy and journalistic sources, taking into account the European standards on the protection of journalists.

Lithuania

• Continue improving the practice of granting access to official documents, in particular by making sure that the grounds for rejection of disclosure requests are not used to unduly limit access, including by journalists, taking into account European standards on access to official documents.

Malta

• Advance with the introduction of legislative and other safeguards to improve the working environment of journalists, including on access to official documents, taking into account European standards on the protection of journalists.
• Strengthen the rules and mechanisms to enhance the independent governance and editorial independence of public service media taking into account European standards on public service media.

Poland

• Ensure that fair, transparent and non-discriminatory procedures are adhered to for the granting of operating licences to media outlets.
• Strengthen the rules and mechanisms to enhance the independent governance and editorial independence of public service media taking into account European standards on public service media.

Romania

• Strengthen the rules and mechanisms to enhance the independent governance and editorial independence of public service media taking into account the European standards on public service media.

Slovakia

• Advance with the process to establish legislative and other safeguards to improve the physical safety and working environment of journalists, including the reform of defamation law, taking into account European standards on the protection of journalists.
• Strengthen the rules and mechanisms to enhance the independent governance and editorial independence of public service media taking into account the European standards on public service media.

Slovenia

• Strengthen the rules and mechanisms to enhance the independent governance and editorial independence of public service media taking into account European standards on public service media.
• Establish legislative and other safeguards to protect journalists, particularly online, taking into account European standards on the protection of journalists. 

Spain

• Ensure adequate resources for the national audiovisual media regulatory authority to strengthen its operations, taking into account the European standards on the independence of media regulators in particular as regards resource adequacy.
• Pursue work to strengthen access to information, in particular via revision of the Law on Official Secrets.