Rebecca Harms is a German politician who was a member of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2019, and chairwoman of the Greens/European Free Alliance (EFTA) group till 2016.
She is at the moment Vice-president of the European Centre for Media and Press Freedom (ECPMF), the organisation behind Voices of Ukraine. This undertaking, through which Voxeurop is a companion, goals to help Ukrainian journalists and media shops.
Given your position within the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), how do you decide the present state of press freedom in Europe?
As an EU politician, I’ve labored with my colleagues within the European Parliament on initiatives to defend journalists and their work. The parliament supported the founding of the ECPMF in 2015 as a result of we wished to push again in opposition to the rising political strain on journalists. We noticed how governments have been bringing the media to heel in Hungary and Poland. In Malta and Slovakia there have been murders of journalists: Daphne Caruana Galizia and Ján Kuciak. Turkey – which was negotiating to hitch the EU – was turning into the world’s largest jail for journalists.
European Parliament initiatives have been taken up by the EU Commissioners answerable for this topic – first Viviane Reding and at present Vera Jourova. And after greater than a decade of political wrangling, the parliament not too long ago handed the European Media Freedom Act. It is a main step to guard press freedom and journalists in all EU international locations. The EMFA will even have an effect past the EU, since press freedom will probably be a precedence in future accession negotiations with Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia.
Why is freedom of the press so essential in democracies, together with the European Union?
In democracy, opinions have to be underpinned by a free media that isn’t influenced by the state. In consultant democracies, journalism is a buttress for the information and participation of residents. It allows politicians to current their targets and selections, and to debate them with pushback. So good journalism promotes accountable opinion-forming. This makes it essential that the media is itself democratic. There have to be transparency and non-governmental oversight for each private and non-private media organisations. Within the run-up to elections it turns into particularly essential to make sure high quality, independence and equity in protection. In spite of everything, residents elect events and politicians who could make far-reaching selections on their behalf.
What particular position may be performed by European and pan-European newsrooms on the eve of EU-wide elections?
A correct pan-European media would definitely be good if we wish a high-quality, genuinely European debate about what’s mentioned and determined in Brussels. Equally, there may be at the moment hardly any dialogue about what occurs in different EU member states, with their varied political and social agendas. The truth that we converse greater than 27 totally different languages doesn’t make issues any simpler. I proceed to imagine that the EU wants its personal public broadcaster, tailored to at present’s monetary constraints and technical alternatives.
For greater than a decade now we have recognized that social media is harming democratic processes. At the moment we see the implications of an ideologically-driven refusal to try any type of regulation of the web. The online made potential at present’s much-celebrated international village, however this has gone hand in hand with an nearly limitless potential for spreading propaganda and falsehoods. There are lots of lies and half-truths circulating concerning the EU establishments alone. These may be troublesome for residents to fact-check as a result of Brussels is so distant or not less than appears it. Given the sheer scale of each info and disinformation, I’m typically at a loss nowadays.
Do pan-European shops have a job to play as regards to the state of affairs in Ukraine and different post-Soviet international locations like Belarus, Moldova or Georgia?
Because the second chair of the ECPMF, I’ve tried to help journalists and media organisations in Japanese Europe. By the way, it’s mistaken to label all of those international locations as post-Soviet. The truth is the rising position performed by skilled media and journalism exhibits how far these societies have modified since independence. By their work, journalists are additionally driving forces behind democratisation and EU integration.
In Belarus, journalists grew to become the goal of persecution after the rigged election and mass protests in opposition to the election fraudster Lukashenko. These persecuted or imprisoned needed to be supported, which was not simple. However their voices additionally wanted to be heard within the West. Certainly, I took it as a right that Belarusian colleagues might publish their work within the Western media. Sadly, I couldn’t assist noticing that though there was solidarity within the West, there was little respect or curiosity for the work of those journalists.
‘To function extra voices from Japanese Europe within the European media is subsequently an act of respect. And in such a hybrid conflict, it should additionally assist the safety of us all’
With the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, my work on the ECPMF additionally modified. Whereas many journalists left Belarus and Russia, most Ukrainian newsrooms and journalists continued their work underneath wartime circumstances. As a part of the Hannah Arendt Initiative, the “Voices of Ukraine” undertaking grew to become a spotlight of the ECPMF.
The Ukrainian media’s enterprise mannequin, specifically promoting, collapsed with the onset of conflict. So the preliminary purpose was to allow journalists to proceed their work by offering them month-to-month help. Because of funding from the German overseas ministry, now we have been in a position to do that for over 100 journalists and small newsrooms since autumn 2022, and that is secured till 2025. Along with varied Ukrainian organisations and firms (for instance, Public Curiosity Journalism Lab and The Repair Media), we additionally present technical help and pay for insurance coverage for frontline reporters. We’re additionally now concerned within the Lviv Media Discussion board.
For the journalists supported by Voices of Ukraine, I’d even be delighted if their articles have been picked up extra within the European media. After all we want our personal skilled overseas correspondents. However on this conflict Ukrainian journalists are our eyes and ears on the bottom: they see and listen to greater than their overseas colleagues.
Since Russia declared conflict on Ukraine, the sufferer nation has been attracting extra consideration. Beforehand the West’s curiosity in Japanese Europe was centered on Russia. Sadly, our lack of curiosity in Central and Japanese European international locations comparable to Ukraine was useful to Russia in its info conflict after which in its invasion. To function extra voices from Japanese Europe within the European media is subsequently an act of respect. And in such a hybrid conflict, it should additionally assist the safety of us all.
