• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Wednesday, February 8, 2023
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home Democracy at Risk Media Freedom

Watchdog Warns EU Leaders Against ‘Weakening’ Journalists

Staff Writer by Staff Writer
03/02/18
in Media Freedom
Jan Kuciak

Jan Kuciak had been probing alleged high-level political corruption in Slovakia linked to the Italian mafia. Photo: AFP

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

A global media watchdog on Friday warned E.U. leaders against undermining the security of journalists in the wake of the murder of a Slovak investigative reporter gunned down in his home.

Jan Kuciak, who had been probing alleged high-level political corruption in Slovakia linked to the Italian mafia, was found shot dead alongside his fiancee Martina Kusnirova on Sunday.

His death came just months after journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed in a car bombing in Malta after exposing crime and corruption on the Mediterranean island.

Shocked by the murder of a journalist in the EU. No democracy can survive without the free press, which is why journalists deserve respect and protection. Our thoughts go out to the loved ones of Ján Kuciak & his girlfriend Martina Kušnírová. Justice must be served.

— Frans Timmermans (@TimmermansEU) February 26, 2018

Investigators in both murders are probing links to organised crime syndicates, but Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said a number of E.U. leaders could also be endangering members of the media through public slurs.

Some European politicians, including government leaders, have sustained and even created an “appalling climate for journalists,” Christophe Deloire, RSF secretary-general told AFP after talks with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico in Bratislava.

“European leaders have a responsibility to defend journalism and not to weaken it,” he added.

Mr. Deloire also said he asked Mr. Fico, a leftist who does not shy away from using populist rhetoric, to “clearly express his regrets” for having publicly insulted journalists.

“Insulting journalists, denials of the legitimacy of journalism by high-level politicians are dangerous to journalists,” he added.

Mr. Fico once told journalists they were “dirty, anti-Slovak whores” and used terms like “plain, silly hyenas” and “slimy snakes” to describe the media.

But in the wake of Mr. Kuciak’s killing, Mr. Fico has vowed his government would “protect freedom of speech and the safety of journalists.”

‘Democratic Crash’?

The RSF chief also pointed to other central European leaders like Czech President Milos Zeman and governing parties in Hungary and Poland as creating a climate of hostility towards the media that undermines the security of journalists and press freedom.

Staunchly pro-Russian, Mr. Zeman once dubbed journalists “manure” and “superficial” before telling Russian President Vladimir Putin in China last May that “journalists should be liquidated.”

“The Czech president last year showed up at a press conference with a toy Kalashnikov in his hand labelled ‘for journalists’,” Mr. Deloire said of an incident last October.

He also insisted that ruling parties in Poland and Hungary “have reduced pluralism” in public broadcasters, turning them into them mouthpieces for governing politicians.

“It is the responsibility of all European countries to avoid a situation where Poland and Hungary set a bad example for the rest of Europe,” he added.

“Investigative journalists who probe corruption, tax evasion or trafficking are threatened and unfortunately there are more and more politicians, heads of government who sometimes weaken investigative journalism,” Mr. Deloire told AFP.

He added that after the murder of Galizia in Malta, “this is a new predictable murder of a journalist and we have to avoid a democratic crash in Europe.”

Reporters investigating the same story as Mr. Kuciak said they have obtained police protection since his shooting.

Share1Tweet
Staff Writer

Staff Writer

AFP with The Globe Post

Related Posts

a policeman in Slovakia
Media Freedom

Slovak Police Launch Probe into Murder of Investigative Journalist

by Staff Writer
February 26, 2018
Next Post
Syrian child Khaled al-Ghorani

Ghouta Civilians Wait for Aid as West Ups Heat on Assad

Eastern Ghouta

640 Civilians Dead as Syria's Forces Advance in Ghouta

Recommended

An AFP journalist views an example of a "deepfake" video manipulated using artificial intelligence.

Deepfake ‘News Anchors’ in Pro-China Footage: Research

February 8, 2023
Syrian rescuers and civilians search for victims and survivors amid the rubble of a collapsed building, in the rebel-held northern countryside of Syria's Idlib province on the border with Turkey, early on February 6, 2023. Syrian rescuers (White Helmets) and civilians search for victims and survivors amid the rubble of a collapsed building

Quake Kills Over 1,200 Across Turkey, Syria

February 6, 2023
Protesters rally against the fatal police assault of Tyre Nichols, outside of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center in Detroit, Michigan, on January 27, 2023

How Do Violent ‘Monsters’ Take Root?

February 3, 2023
A supporter of nurses' strike and NHS holds a placard

UK Faces Fresh Mass Strikes as Wage Talks Derail

February 1, 2023
Israeli security forces in Jerusalem

Palestinian Gunman Kills 7 in East Jerusalem Synagogue Attack

January 30, 2023
The Doomsday Clock reads 100 seconds to midnight, a decision made by The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, during an announcement at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on January 23, 2020

‘Doomsday Clock’ Moves Closest Ever to Midnight

January 25, 2023

Opinion

Protesters rally against the fatal police assault of Tyre Nichols, outside of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center in Detroit, Michigan, on January 27, 2023

How Do Violent ‘Monsters’ Take Root?

February 3, 2023
George Santos from the 3rd Congressional district of New York

George Santos for Speaker!

January 16, 2023
Commuters waiting for buses in Metro Manila. Philippines

Eight Billion and Counting…

November 29, 2022
Mahsa Amini protests

Imagining a Free Iran

October 24, 2022
Vladimir Putin

How 18th Century International Law Clarifies the Situation in Ukraine

September 29, 2022
Vladimir Putin

Falling for Putin

September 15, 2022
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post