Pressures policies, threats, lawsuits and blackmail. Journalists put their backs to the wall by semi authoritarian political regimes. And 'This is the picture taken on press freedom in countries from Brussels in the coming years to begin or the path to join the European Union. These are countries that Freedom House classifies as "partly free", just like the ' Italy, which in view of the 27 currently in the company of Romania and Bulgaria .
But the recent report on enlargement was drafted by the European Commission deals with countries that are not yet part of the Union. And the picture that emerges is more gloomy than ever: there are serious problems in the independence and pluralism of information. These are Turkey, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Albania, Macedonia, Serbia, Kosovo and Montenegro. Speech in part for Iceland, but in northern Europe is another story.
difficult to say who is worse. Perhaps the Turkey, where the Commission report "a high number of violations of freedom of expression, civil cases against journalists and frequent closures Internet sites. " Suffice it to say that until last October Ankara had no access to Youtube after the ban ordered by the Government and even two years duration. The International Federation of Journalists reports that 40 journalists are currently detained in prison simply for doing their duty with honesty and professionalism. " And then the problem of anti-Semitism, never really disappeared from the Turkish media (remember that Turkey is overwhelmingly Muslim).
And then the Balkans, where they still feel the aftermath of ethnic and religious conflicts that triggered the war nineties. The Bosnia and Herzegovina is in serious delays in implementing the Freedom of Access to Information Act, which should promote access to public information kept secret for years by the authorities. And last year things got worse, as Freedom House reports that Bosnia was downgraded to 51 places in its ranking on press freedom (from 47 ° to 98 °). Countless cases of political interference: the South East Europe Organization reported that the television channel Alternativna Televizija has received written instructions from Socijaldemokratska Partija BiH (Bosnian Social Democratic Party) information to be given during the last month before the election campaign in October.
problems even in the small Kosovo, despite that independence recognized by February 2008, still sees the RTK, the main public broadcaster, in the hands of the Deputy Prime Minister. Also in Kosovo, according to the report of the Commission, the political authorities remain dangerously major advertisers of the national media.
in Brussels is also "a worrying lack of clarity in the ownership of media in Albania and Macedonia . Intimidation of journalists and discrimination of Roma children are too often on the agenda.
In Serbia, meanwhile, fired. After the attempted murder of Dejan Anastasijevic, the reporter who had dealt with the war crimes of Slobodan Milosevic, the violence against journalists have followed one another with alarming regularity, and have rarely responded to a serious inquiry and on time.
The Freedom House, in its press freedom ranking 2009, had cataloged all of these countries as "partly free". But if this classification does not weigh on the presence of Europe in countries such as Italy, the lack of full freedom of information may rather undermine the whole process of EU membership for anyone who is peeking into the idea of \u200b\u200bjoining the euro group, "Freedom of expression and media, an integral part of any democratic system, there is a note painful and disturbing in the Accession Countries, "said Štefan Füle , EU Commissioner for Enlargement.
Turkey, Croatia, Macedonia and Iceland are officially "candidate countries", while Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro are "potential candidates". To complete the accession negotiations, candidate countries must meet all 35 "chapters" imposed by the EU: These are minimum requirements in terms of civil liberties, democracy, human rights and fundamental freedoms.
From ilfattoquotidiano
From ilfattoquotidiano
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