With Dorothée ARCHAMBAULT, director of Development and Programmes for Media Defence, Ricardo GUTTIERIEZ general secretary of the European Federation of Journalists (EJC), and Patrick PELTZ, project officer of the « Feindbild Journalist:in » for the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF).
Moderated by Lucie SYKOROVA, journalisy and president of ECPMF Advisory Board.
Key issues
Violence, death threats, harassment… How to help journalists deal with the different kind of violence they face? Which organisations can help journalists? What should do when they are attacked? These are the questions the three speakers tried to answer during the debate.
What they said:
Dorothée ARCHAMBAULT: “To be clear, there are no attacks if under the exercise of free speech that can be justified under any circumstances.”
Patrick Peltz: “Many people doubt the fact that journalists have to report the facts.”
Ricardo Guttierez: “Violence can happen in Europe or in old western democracies. It is not just in countries like Azerbaijan or Russia.”
“Many journalists think violence and intimidation are part of the job.”
Takeaways
Violence, death threats, intimidation and even assassinations toward journalists are increasing in Europe. Some European organisations are trying to help journalists and protect them, even though sometimes it can be difficult. Some programmes are implemented thanks to the police in Vienna, which has a person dedicated to help journalists on such cases. Among the public, many journalists were there. They all agreed that being a journalist is getting tougher, and some of them even shared their own stories.
Marie Renaud (EJC) & Djenny Cifende (IHECS)