World Press Freedom Day
The conditions for free journalistic reporting have worsened around the world, according to the organisation Reporters Without Borders. Journalists sound the alarm on World Press Freedom Day.
Buy the quality press!
Quality journalism is expensive but also essential, writes Remus Florescu in his blog in Adevărul:
“To do quality work of the kind we saw with the Panama Papers or in the film Spotlight, you need good journalists and time. Both are a luxury in today's press landscape. ... But we will pay dearly if quality journalism bites the dust. I'm referring to the money that will be embezzled instead of being spent on roads, schools and education. I'm referring to the people who have died as a result of the state's laxity in implementing the law. 'Corruption kills!' the people chanted on Romania's streets last autumn, and it's true. The problem is that the protests died like a flash in the pan, and the corrupt system can go on raking in the beans. What can be done? Read the quality press, share articles on Facebook, and buy papers at the news stands.”
Journalists must teach politicians to fear them
Croatia's new national-conservative government is cracking down on the country's already weakened independent media, Anton Filić, president of the Trade Union of Croatian Journalists, warns on website Autogramm.hr:
“The new government has pounced on the non-profit media and either cut their funding or scrapped it altogether. The same thing is happening with the newspapers of national minorities, like the Italian-language Voce Del Popolo, which has now been forced to shut down. What next? George Washington once warned: 'If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.' We don't want to let them take our freedom of speech away! Journalists must take a clear stance against ideological wars because they only serve the interests of those who want to cover up crime and corruption at the state level. … Journalism must not be 'right-wing' or 'left-wing' but should be feared by politicians.”