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Mapping Media Freedom: Five incidents to watch
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Each week, Index on Censorship’s Mapping Media Freedom project verifies threats, violations and limitations faced by the media throughout the European Union and neighbouring countries. Here are five recent reports that give us cause for concern.
Turkey: Three journalists arrested on terror charges after reporting on hacking scandal
On 18 January a Turkish court ordered the arrest of three journalists on charges of “membership in an armed terror group,” T24 reported.
These journalists include Ömer Çelik, former news editor of DİHA daily; Tunca Öğreten, former editor of Diken news portal, and BirGün daily staff member Mahir Kanaat.
They were detained on 25 December 2016 with three others; Derya Okatan, managing editor for the ETHA news agency; DİHA reporter Metin Yoksu, and Yolculuk newspaper managing editor Eray Saygın.
After 24 days, the court ruled to release Yoksu, Sargın and Okatan on probation terms. Under the order they are barred from international travel and will have to regularly check in with their local police station.
Pre-trial custody can last up to 30 days under Turkey’s emergency rule, which was implemented on 20 July 2015 following a coup attempt.
On 25 December 2016, pro-government Sabah daily announced that the journalists would be detained in connection to email correspondence of Berat Albayrak, Turkey’s energy minister and the son-in-law of the country’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan that were leaked to the media.
The arrests bring the number of journalists in Turkish prisons to 151.
Sweden: Public broadcaster sent suspicious powder with threatening messages
The Gothenburg offices of Swedish public service TV and radio, SVT, were evacuated on Tuesday 10 January after a suspicious package containing white powder and written threats was sent to staff member Janne Josefsson, the broadcaster reported.
SVT reported that “the letter was opened and the contents spread on a coffee machine and stairs”.
SVT Chief Executive Hannah Stjärne commented on the incident: “This threat has disabled a socially important journalistic operation for several hours and is a blow to the open society which we must protect.”
Police have begun an investigation into the source of the threat. The powder was later found to be harmless.
Belarus: Blogger detained following extradition request from Azerbaijan
Russian-Israeli blogger Aleksandr Lapshin was detained in Minsk on 15 January 2016, shortly after entering Belarus, Euroradio.fm reported. The detention was requested by Azerbaijan, which is seeking to have the blogger extradited.
Lapshin lives in Moscow and is wanted in Azerbaijan for visiting the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh and for criticising Azerbaijani policies on his blog.
A representative for Belarus’s Prosecutor General said it was studying Azerbaijan’s extradition request.
The Committee to Protect Journalists has called on Belorussian authorities to release the blogger without condition and allow him to return home.
Albania: Two news directors dismissed, citing new pro-government editorial line
Two media directors, Armand Shullaku and Alfred Lela, lost their jobs on 12 January after owners changed the “editorial orientation” of their outlets in favour of the government, ZeriaMerikas.es reported.
Shkullaku, who was the director of the news channel ABC News in Tirana, said his employment contract was not renewed for January 2017 and that he believed that the owner of the TV station changed its editorial line so that it now supports the government. “The owner told me that in his opinion, the channel needed a new managerial and editorial approach,” he said.
Lela, former director of the newspaper Mapo, said that the owner of the outlet had also declared his support for Prime Minister Edi Rama and that his contract, which ended on 31 December, was not renewed for that reason. “I was offered a new contract on condition I respected the new editorial affiliation and I refused,” he told Voice of America Albanian language service.
Lulzim Basha, the leader of the opposition Democratic Party, wrote on his Facebook page that the dismissal of these two journalists means businesses and media have joined the government against the people.
Turkey: Istanbul prosecutor demands nine-year sentence for editor
On 12 January an Istanbul Prosecutor asked for a nine-year sentence in the case of prominent journalist Hasan Cemal, reported Hurriyet Daily News.
Cemal is being charged for “making the propaganda of terrorist organisations” and “praising crime and criminals”.
On 1 September, 2016 Cemal was part of a group of nine editors who took part in the Editor For The Day campaign launched in support of the closed pro-Kurdish daily Özgür Gündemy, Bianet reported.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]
Mapping Media Freedom
Click on the bubbles to view reports or double-click to zoom in on specific regions. The full site can be accessed at https://mappingmediafreedom.org/
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Mapping Media Freedom: Five incidents to watch
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”81193″ img_size=”full”][vc_column_text]Each week, Index on Censorship’s Mapping Media Freedom project verifies threats, violations and limitations faced by the media throughout the European Union and neighbouring countries. Here are five recent reports that give us cause for concern.
Turkey: Hatay journalist arrested on terror related charges
A Hatay court issued a detention order for Ceren Taşkin, a reporter for the local newspaper Hatay Ses, on the basis of her social media posts, news website Gazete Karinca reported.
Taşkin was detained earlier for “spreading propaganda for a terrorist group” via her social media posts. Taşkin was arrested and sent to prison on 12 January on the same charges.
Her arrest brings the number of journalists in prison to 148, Platform 24 reported.
Ukraine/Ykpaïha: Authorities ban independent Russian TV channel Dozhd
The National Radio and TV Council has banned independent Russian television channel Dozhd from broadcasting in the country.
“The channel portrayed the administrative border between Crimea and Kherson region as the border between Ukraine and Russia,” national council member Serhiy Kostynskyy said during a council meeting, Interfax-Ukraine reported.
According to Kostynskyy, the channel repeatedly violated Ukrainian law in 2016 by broadcasting Russian advertising and having Dozhd journalists illegally enter annexed Crimea from the Russian Federation without receiving special permission.
The ban is set to be officially published by the authorities on 16 January, Interfax-Ukraine reported.
Dozhd Director Natalya Sindeyeva said that the channel is broadcasting through IP-connection without direct commercial advertising in Ukraine and follows the Russian Federation law requiring that media outlets use maps to show Crimea as part of Russia.
Dunja Mijatovic, media freedom representative at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, wrote on her Twitter that this decision is “very damaging to media pluralism in Ukraine.”
Greece: Media executives arrested following lawsuit from defence minister
Police arrested Giannis Kourtakis, publisher of Parapolitika newspaper, and its director, Panayiotis Tzenos, following a lawsuit filed against them for libel and extortion by the defence minister and leader of the Independent Greeks Party (ANEL), Panos Kammenos, the news website SKAI reports.
Kourtakis said he voluntarily went to police headquarters after being informed about the lawsuit, while director Panagiotis Tzenos was arrested in his Athens office.
ANEL issued a statement stressing that the lawsuit was prompted by allegedly slanderous claims about Kammenos’s son, saying that he was an “anarchist” and involved in a terrorist group on their radio programme which aired on 9 January.
In July 2015, Kammenos gave Athens press union (ESIEA) a list of journalists who had allegedly received improper funding through advertising from the state health entity KEELPNO, which included the Parapolitika executives.
According to SKAI, Kammenos claims that the journalists made slanderous statements about his son in order to make him retract allegations that the Parapolitika executives were receiving funding.
The public prosecutor who investigated the lawsuit has since reportedly dropped charges of criminal extortion.
Greece’s main journalists’ union and opposition parties have expressed concern over the general tendency of police’s interventions to journalists’ offices.
“Journalism must be exercised according to specific rules, but also press freedom must be defended and protected,” the Journalists’ Union of the Athens Daily Newspapers writes in its statement.
Russia/Россия: Caucasian Knot correspondent beaten in Rostov
Vladislav Ryazantcev, correspondent for the independent news agency Caucasian Knot, reported on Facebook that he was assaulted by five unknown individuals whose faces were covered by scarves.
According to Ryazantcev, one of them grabbed his hand and asked him to “follow him for a talk.” Right after that an additional four individuals came up and started to hit the journalist on the head.
Ryazantcev reported that bystanders then helped rescued him.
“I do not know what the attack is connected to,” he wrote on Facebook. He later filed a complaint to the police.
The day before on 9 January, Magomed Daudov, speaker of the Chechen parliament, published threats against editor-in-chief of the Caucasian Knot, Grigori Shvedov, on Instagram.
France: TV journalists assaulted in Compiègne
A TV crew working for TF1 channel was reportedly assaulted in Compiègne while trying to film a building set to be emptied of its inhabitants because of alleged high criminality linked to drug trafficking, Courrier Picard reported.
“We tried to film a story there this morning. Our crew was attacked and stoned by thugs who stole our camera in this unlawful zone. It was very violent,” TF1 presenter Jean-Pierre Pernaud said. The assault occurred in the Close des Roses neighbourhood.
One of the journalists told Courrier Picard that the channel would file a complaint.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]
Mapping Media Freedom
Click on the bubbles to view reports or double-click to zoom in on specific regions. The full site can be accessed at https://mappingmediafreedom.org/
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Media Freedom
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Media freedom is under threat worldwide. Journalists are threatened, jailed and even killed simply for doing their job.
Index on Censorship documents threats to media freedom in Europe through a monitoring project and campaigns against laws that stifle journalists’ work. We also publish an award-winning magazine
Support our work today.
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Monitoring threats, limitations and violations related to media freedom in Azerbaijan, Belarus, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine
Identifying and analysing issues, trends and drivers and exploring possible response options and opportunities for advocating media freedom[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row equal_height=”yes” content_placement=”middle” el_class=”text_white” css=”.vc_custom_1533297499193{margin-top: 15px !important;margin-right: 0px !important;margin-bottom: 15px !important;margin-left: 0px !important;background-color: #b0281d !important;}”][vc_column width=”1/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1533297255777{padding-top: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;background-image: url(https://www.indexoncensorship.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/us-press-freedom-tracker-socialgraphc-image.original.png?id=101995) !important;background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: cover !important;}”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1488194350948{padding-top: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;}”][vc_custom_heading text=”U.S. Press Freedom Tracker” use_theme_fonts=”yes” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fpressfreedomtracker.us%2F|||”][vc_column_text]The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is a nonpartisan website on the number of press freedom violations in the United States. Index on Censorship is part of the coalition of organisations supporting the effort.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1488191837058{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”][vc_column][three_grid_post category_id=”9044″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row equal_height=”yes” content_placement=”middle” el_class=”text_white” css=”.vc_custom_1488811315189{margin-top: 15px !important;margin-right: 0px !important;margin-bottom: 0px !important;margin-left: 0px !important;background-color: #d5473c !important;}”][vc_column width=”1/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1488294894976{padding-top: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: cover !important;}”][vc_custom_heading text=”Protect media freedom” use_theme_fonts=”yes” link=”url:%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.indexoncensorship.org%2Fdefend-media-freedom-donate-index%2F%20|||”][vc_column_text]
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We monitor threats to press freedom, produce an award-winning magazine and publish work by censored writers.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1488810838993{background-image: url(https://www.indexoncensorship.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/newspapers.jpg?id=50885) !important;background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: cover !important;}”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row disable_element=”yes”][vc_column][three_column_post title=”Mapping Media Freedom” category_id=”6564″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row disable_element=”yes” css=”.vc_custom_1498050004462{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”][vc_column][three_grid_post category_id=”6564″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][campaigns_casestudy show_casestudy=”true” category_id=”8996″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row equal_height=”yes” content_placement=”middle” el_class=”text_white” css=”.vc_custom_1501152281329{margin-top: 15px !important;margin-right: 0px !important;margin-bottom: 25px !important;margin-left: 0px !important;background-color: #d5473c !important;}”][vc_column width=”1/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1488294894976{padding-top: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: cover !important;}”][vc_custom_heading text=”It’s not just Trump” use_theme_fonts=”yes” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.indexoncensorship.org%2Fnot-just-trump-us-media-freedom-fraying-edges%2F|||”][vc_column_text]
US media freedom fraying at the edges
A review of threats to press freedom in the United States.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1493803448002{background-image: url(https://www.indexoncensorship.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/USMedia_ReportCover_1460x490-revised.jpg?id=90089) !important;background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: cover !important;}”][/vc_column][/vc_row]