Threats to Media Freedom and Journalist’s Security as a Challenge to Implementation of Constitutional Principle of Freedom of Speech in the Council of Europe’s Member States
- Institution: Warsaw University
- ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8412-7217
- Year of publication: 2021
- Source: Show
- Pages: 303-316
- DOI Address: https://doi.org/10.15804/ppk.2021.06.24
- PDF: ppk/64/ppk6424.pdf
Free speech and freedom of the media are essential to the functioning of democratic systems. However, recent decades have brought phenomena that pose a threat to media freedom. The author analyzed threats to media freedom and journalist’s security regarding resolution 2317 (2020) of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. All Council of Europe Member States must effectively guarantee the safety of journalists, create an environment conducive to freedom of the media and prevent the misuse of laws or normative provisions that may affect this freedom, without which there is no democracy. The right of journalists to protect their sources must be guaranteed; police violence against journalists must be condemned, and sanctions against any infringement of the freedom of the media must be dissuasive. Although it is only “softlaw”, the PACE resolution may inspire the Member States to take more effective measures in this regard.