Activities of Stelios KOULOGLOU related to 2022/2057(INI)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on the protection of journalists around the world and the European Union’s policy on the matter
Amendments (24)
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas states have obligations to safeguard the fundamental rights associated with journalists, such as the right to freedom of expression and opinion, the right to life and the right to personal dignity; whereas international human rights law establishes that the protection of journalists includes preventing all forms of discrimination without distinction of any kind, including race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, and property, birth or other status; whereas the inadequate protection offered to journalists, as well as the growing hostility displayed towards them by public figures, are substantially undermining their basic freedoms;
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas professional journalists have a mission to provide the public with information on general or specialised topics of interest as responsibly and as objectively as possible; whereas adequate working conditions mean avoiding undue internal and external pressure, dependency, vulnerability and instability, and hence the risk of self-censorship; whereas it is important to consider the societal role played by all media workers and support staff, as well as community media workers and so-called citizen journalists;
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas investigative journalists working to expose corruption are being particularly targeted; whereas journalists require direct, immediate and unencumbered access to information from public administrations to properly hold the authorities to account;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G a (new)
Recital G a (new)
G a. whereas those who report serious violations of international law face persecution, including judicial persecution; whereas they may be accused of undermining state security; whereas any authoritarian regime can convict an independent journalist on charges of undermining state security;
Amendment 39 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G b (new)
Recital G b (new)
G b. whereas the whistleblower Julian Assange, is persecuted in the US for for publishing information about serious human rights violations, including torture and murder commited in Iraq and Afghanistan;
Amendment 40 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G c (new)
Recital G c (new)
G c. whereas, echoing the Council of Europe, whistleblowing is a fundamental aspect of freedom of expression and plays an essential role in detecting and reporting irregularities and wrongdoing, and in strengthening democratic accountability and transparency; whereas whistleblowing represents a key source of information in the fight against organised crime, in investigating, identifying and publicising cases of corruption within the public and private sectors and in detecting tax avoidance schemes set up by private companies; whereas the adequate protection of whistleblowers, as well as the promotion of a culture of acknowledgement of the important role played by whistleblowers in society, are preconditions for ensuring the effectiveness of such a role;
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G d (new)
Recital G d (new)
G d. whereas the Partnership on Information and Democracy gathering 50 states from all regions (half of them are members of the European Union) calls for the establishment of democratic safeguards in the communication and information space and recognises every citizen’s right to reliable information;
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G e (new)
Recital G e (new)
G e. whereas the Partnership on Information and Democracy underlines that access to reliable information must be protected and promoted to enable democratic participation and the exercise of freedom of opinion and expression;
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G f (new)
Recital G f (new)
G f. whereas the civil society-led implementation body of the Partnership, the Forum on Information and Democracy, has developed a series of recommendations in order to address the issue of the information chaos that the EU could use to support efforts of democratic countries outside the Union;
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas technological innovation has increased the capacity of individuals, governments and other bodies to spy on journalists, compromise their digital security and force censorship upon them; whereas such attacks may include compromising journalists’ accounts, locking them out of their accounts, subjecting them to intrusive malware, targeting them with hateful and violent content and gathering and publishing personal information about them online; and even used the information obtained to assassinate them; whereas surveillance and digital threats are having a negative impact on press freedom worldwide and limit journalists’ ability to investigate and report; whereas Pegasus and other equivalent spyware software has been used to spy on hundreds of journalists around the world;
Amendment 53 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I
Recital I
I. whereas according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, in 2022, 66 journalists were killed and 64 were reported missing; and, according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), 533 journalists are currently detained for carrying out their journalistic activity;
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J
Recital J
J. whereas the safety of journalists is crucial to guarantee their ability to do their job properly; whereas the protection of journalists and journalistic sources, including whistle-blowers, varies between countries and in most does not include providing effective protection against retaliation, defamation charges, threats, intimidating lawsuits or other negative consequences;
Amendment 62 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital M a (new)
Recital M a (new)
M a. whereas the concentration of power of media conglomerates, platform operators and internet intermediaries, and media control by economic corporations and political actors risk causing negative consequences for the pluralism of public debate and access to information and having an impact on the freedom, integrity, quality and editorial independence of journalism and broadcast media;
Amendment 68 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital O a (new)
Recital O a (new)
O a. whereas often the detained journalists have been denied the right of access to a lawyer and are being kept in inhuman conditions in which they are being threatened and mistreated; whereas the right to independent and transparent access to justice is a core component of the rule of law and the right to a fair trial must be ensured;
Amendment 74 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital R
Recital R
R. whereas transparency of media ownership iand funding sources anre absolute preconditions for ensuring media pluralism and independent journalism; whereas every effort must be undertaken to ensure the robustness of the media sector, to ensure independence from economic and political pressures, and to increase media freedom and pluralism[; whereas the transparency of media funding is an essential element in promoting trust among citizens;
Amendment 83 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital T a (new)
Recital T a (new)
T a. whereas it should put in place measures aimed at ensuring that the media is based on public values and is open, democratic, sustainable and inclusive, and that it is an environment in which more women, people from racial and ethnic minorities, migrants and refugees, members of LGBTIQ+ communities and people with disabilities occupy creative and decision-making positions;
Amendment 106 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3 a. Condemns the abuses, crimes and deadly attacks still being committed against journalists and media workers because of their activities; Condemns the attempts to intimidate and deport international journalists; Calls to refrain from also treating family members of suspected journalists as potential suspects and using administrative or other sanctions against them;
Amendment 109 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3 b. Urges the authorities to do their utmost to prevent such violence, to ensure accountability and avoid impunity and to guarantee that victims and their families have access to the appropriate legal remedies;
Amendment 110 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 c (new)
Paragraph 3 c (new)
3 c. Strongly condemns all unjustified jailing of journalists and all provisional detentions based on political criteria; calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all jailed journalists who are being held without proof of individual involvement in committing a crime or with no charges being brought against them;
Amendment 125 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Deplores the fact that journalists and media workers often work inExpresses its concern over the deteriorating working conditions for journalists and the amount of psychological violence that journalists witness; considers that these precarious conditions, which compromises their ability to work in a safe and enabling environment; stresses that adequate working conditions for journalists and media workers are crucial to fostering high-quality journalism, allowing journalists to fulfil their missions and upholding the right to information and the right to be informed; calls, the authorities to set up national action plans, in close cooperation with journalist organisations, to improve the working conditions of journalists and to ensure that journalists will not be victims of psychological violence;
Amendment 138 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8 a. Acknowledges the crucial role that investigative journalists can play as watchdogs for democracy and the rule of law; notes that the highest level of protection of investigative journalists and whistle-blowers is in the vital interests of society as a whole;
Amendment 139 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 b (new)
Paragraph 8 b (new)
8 b. Points out that whistle-blowers have proved to be a crucial resource for investigative journalism and for an independent press, and that guaranteeing the confidentiality of sources is fundamental to freedom of the press; stresses, therefore, that whistle-blowers contribute to democracy, transparency of politics and the economy, and an informed public;
Amendment 140 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Regrets the absence of reliable data on the situation of journalists facing hostile working environments; pays tribute to organisations such as Reporters Without Borders, the Committee to Protect Journalists, Frontline, the International Federation of Journalists and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, to name but a few, for their support for journalists and media workers in situations of danger that could threaten their security and well-being; calls on the Commission to develop holistic and sophisticated methodologies to seek ways of capturing data over longer periods time and for different types of violations against journalists; asks for effective monitoring toolkits to be developed; calls to set up an independent and impartial regulatory body, in cooperation with journalists’ organisations, for monitoring, documenting and reporting on violence and threats against journalists and to deal with the protection and safety of journalists;
Amendment 196 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21 a (new)
Paragraph 21 a (new)
21 a. Calls for an appropriate and sustainable legal framework establishing a free information space protection mechanism based on the reciprocity of openness requirements; believes that, as proposed by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), this System for the protection of democratic information spaces should be built on two pillars: 1) equal treatment – for all audio-visual outlets broadcasting on EU territory; 2) reciprocity – openness of public space for EU broadcasters in third countries and territories;