There has probably never been a more dangerous time to be a journalist.<\/p>\n
According to CPJ (Committee to Protect Journalists) data<\/a> , 40 journalists have been killed this year so far, the majority of them while working in the warzones of Syria, Iraq and Palestine.<\/p>\n Whilst the number of journalists killed when reporting from conflict and war zones has risen steadily in recent years, the protection, support and training given to them have weakened considerably.\u00a0 With more and more of the hostile-environment news coverage provided by freelancers without the proper backing of a responsible news organisation, the safety of journalists will continue to be on the top of our agenda.<\/p>\n The targeted murders of journalists remain the gravest threat to media freedom and it is the the ultimate form of censorship. Impunity for perpetrators of violence against journalists increases the risks journalists routinely face.<\/p>\n Thankfully, for the majority of my fellow journalists in Europe, the main issue is not how to combat violence but how to survive in a fast changing media environment and for some, how to resist pressure from governments. \u00a0For those working on the edges of Europe, such as Turkey, Azerbaijan and Ukraine, the challenges are far greater.<\/p>\n At the AEJ<\/a> (Association of European Journalists) Annual Congress and General Assembly that took place last weekend in Austria, \u00a0the theme of the special debate was \u201cJournalists under fire: \u00a0Growing dangers to journalists in Europe\u201d.<\/p>\n Chaired by the AEJ\u2019s Media Freedom Representative William Horsley, comments by the panelists and contributions from the floor soon demonstrated the existence of different worlds but it also showed that the erosion of press freedom is happening in the long-established democracies of Europe, too. \u00a0Growing commercial pressures increase the media\u2019s vulnerability to political pressure.\u00a0 However, in some countries, other factors such as \u00a0\u00a0increasingly oppressive laws, wrongful imprisonment, verbal attacks on journalists by officials and widespread censorship create a climate of fear and intimidation. Turkey is one such country that was frequently mentioned in the debate as having a worsening media environment.<\/p>\n Frane Maroevic , Senior Adviser, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media\u00a0 told us that there were many ways of putting pressure on journalists and that governments were becoming more and more sophisticated doing it. Fines, tax investigations, financial pressures, limiting accreditation, false accusations of terrorism, drug abuse and violence are some of the common methods of intimidating journalists.<\/p>\n The International Press Institute\u2019s Barbara Trionfi said that her organization scrutinizes media laws in various countries and makes recommendations on how to bring their legislation in line with internationally accepted standards on freedom of expression. It is not only those that fall below standards that cause problems. Often, perfectly legitimate laws are applied beyond their legitimate remit.<\/p>\n As Ms Trionfi pointed out, Turkey has a number of problems in this area and remains on the IPI\u2019s watch list of countries that \u00a0\u201cexhibit poor and deteriorating records on media freedom, raising concerns not only over the state of free expression but of democracy itself\u201d.\u00a0 Their latest joint mission<\/a> with the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) to Turkey with an international delegation of high profile journalists \u00a0warned that Turkey risks a serious backslide in democracy unless a recent trend of erosion of media freedom is reversed.<\/p>\n None of these warnings are heeded by Turkey. As the AEJ\u2019s Turkey delegate pointed out, the new government bill presented to the Parliament pushes Turkey one step closer to being a police state.<\/p>\n Proposed changes expand the power of police, lower the threshold for the burden of proof, replacing police obligation to have “concrete evidence” for a search warrant to be granted by a judge with “reasonable evidence”.<\/p>\n