EJ Press Release on Freedom of Press

11/02/2007

The European Union should be guarantor for  freedom of press in Europe

The “European Journalists’ Association – The Communication Network” (EJ) urges the Ministers of Communication and Culture of the European Union meeting in Berlin on Monday and Tuesday, February 12-13, 2007 to take into serious consideration and make concrete  steeps forwards in order to be guarantors of freedom of press within the members states of the Union and other European countries.
Among others the EJ asks them not to leave tot fall into oblivion the murder of the Russian Journalist  Anna Politkowskaja and other serious events against freedom of press.
“It is duty  and responsibility of the Ministers of Communication of the European Union to safeguard journalists from governmental attaches when they criticize Governments”, the president of the European Journalists’ Association –The Communication Network Paolo Magagnotti said at the conclusion of a meeting of the Association’s Executive Committee recently held in  Bolzano/Bozen, Italy.
EJ expressed furthermore deep worry on the trend towards media concentration being experienced in European Countries; a trend that is a serious threat   to freedom of press and pluralism.  EJ object to a system that privileges economic interests at the expense of free expression of ideas and opinions that should characterize Europe’s unity based on diversity.
In this context the “European Journalists’ Association –The Communication Network” welcomes and supports the Three-Steps-Plan presented by the European Commissioner for information society and media Viviane Redding and the European Commissioner for Communication strategy Margot Wallström on 16 January 2007 to their fellow Commissioners on media pluralism in the European Union.
The Three-Steps respond to continuing concerns from the European Parliament, non-governmental and journalists’s organizations about media concentration, and its possible effects on pluralism and freedom of expression.