A report published by 15 partner organizations to the Council of Europe Safety of Journalists Platform has shown a dramatic increase in threats to media freedoms throughout 2021. The report section called 'Harassment and smear campaigns' mentions Milorad Dodik, the member of Bosnia's tripartite Presidency and his threats to a journalist and her family.
According to the report, the number of alerts reported on the platform concerning serious threats to media freedom in Council of Europe member states in 2021 increased by 41%, from 200 in 2020 to 282.
Among 13 thematic sections of the report, the one called ‘Harassment and smear campaigns’ mentions Dodik in connection to his threats to journalist Tanja Topic and her family.
“On 24 May 2021, the Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Milorad Dodik, threatened journalist Tanja Topic and her family in a statement to the SRNA news agency from Republika Srpska, calling her “an agent of the German foreign intelligence service,” the report said.
The same section recalled of a tweet by Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa from 2021, when he said Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatovic, is “part of #fakenews network” in a comment on her recent memorandum on freedom of expression and media freedom in Slovenia.
Expressing her concern about the findings of the report, the Council of Europe’s Secretary General, Marija Pejcinovic Buric, condemned attacks on journalists in Europe. In addition, she highlighted recent targeting of journalists by the Russian army during the ongoing aggression in Ukraine, which has resulted in the death of several reporters, and reminded governments of their positive obligations to protect journalists, including in times of war.
The Secretary General also paid tribute to the journalists who are reporting on the ground about the war, often putting their safety at risk, in order to provide the public with first-hand information about the conflict and its dramatic consequences for the people of Ukraine.
“Freedom of expression and media freedom face many challenges in Europe today. While there are improvements in certain areas in some countries, there is a general trend towards erosion of these freedoms. In these times of crisis – with the Covid-19 pandemic still present and the violence in Ukraine still raging – we must redouble our efforts to defend the core principles of freedom of expression and media independence that are essential to our democracies,” she said.
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