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Coronavirus Covid, cash and contracts Boris Johnson’s UK government faces multiple inquiries into the latest scandal over business lobbying even though it has so far rejected an Opposition Labour call for a full Parliamentary inquiry. The Prime Minister himself faces charges of lying and a growing raft of questions over his own conduct although he or some of his ministers have denied any wrongdoing: - did he break ministerial rules in questionable contact about Covid ventilators with major Conservative donor and Brexit supporter James Dyson - how did he pay for refurbishing his Downing Street residence – questions reopened in a blistering public attack by his former chief aide and advisor Dominic Cummings - did he really say he’d prefer to see “bodies pile high in their thousands” in a moment of arguing against a possible third Covid lockdown. There are multiple other questions . And these have increased since a series of revelations by the FT and Sunday Times newspapers exposed attempts by former Prime Minister David Cameron to get access to emergency Covid funding for his employer Greensill Capital through cabinet ministers and civil servants. The scandal amplifies already serious questions about UK government spending on combatting Covid 19. The UK High Court made another ruling on April 29 ordering the UK government to disclose documents and correspondence relating to ministers’ knowledge of a scheme that allowed suppliers with political links to access multimillion pound contracts for personal protective equipment (PPE) at the start of the pandemic. Campaign group the Good Law Project is suing the government over its decision to award contracts and said it could reveal the names of four more companies involved. Previously the court ruled the UK government acted unlawfully over public contracts in the coronavirus crisis. The High Court in London ruled on Feb.19 that the government failed to publish timely information about billions of pounds worth of public contracts. The Good Law Project and three opposition MPs brought the legal challenge over the government’s own strict time limits, which specify that any state contract award notices must be published within a 30 day period of the deals being finalised. During the court hearing, the government accepted that there had been technical breaches of its obligations. Please see here for the court judgment. The Opposition Labour party called on Health Secretary Matt Hancock to “commit to cleaning up cronyism”. And a report from the UK Parliament’s public accounts committee said on March 10 there is no evidence to show that the £37 billion being spent on the privatized test-and-trace program has helped to reduce infection levels. The cross-party spending watchdog challenged ministers to justify the “staggering investment of taxpayers’ money” and criticised the use of expensive private consultants – 2500 still employed in mFebruary paid an estimated £1100 per day with the highest rate at over £6000 per day. The MPs' report questioned: - an over-reliance on consultants - failure to be ready for a surge in demand for tests in September - never meeting its time target to turn around tests done face-to-face - not providing enough work for contact tracers. An opinion poll showed the public overwhelmingly considered the system a failure. The searing Parliamentary report came just a few days after the government proposed a 1% pay rise for National Health Service nurses – effectively a pay cut as it’s below the rate of inflation and derided as “pitiful” by angry nursing organizations which threatened strike action. The actual pay rise still has to be considered by the NHS pay review panel and decided by the cabinet but the prime minister and government faced a major backlash, especially given they had praised NHS staff as heroes for the past year of the covid crisis. Two public opinion polls – one for the Observer newspaper and the other for inews – showed widespread public support for larger pay increases. There have been mounting questions about the government’s awarding of covid-related contracts especially over issues of transparency and who’s making money from them – a question not unique to the UK – as well as questionable practices in awarding multi-million pound contracts. In November Parliament’s spending watchdog criticised the government for a series of shortcomings when it awarded more than £17 billion of contracts to private companies to counter the Covid-19 pandemic, including deals to supply personal protective equipment to NHS staff. UK Police Bill threatens free speech Prime Minister Boris Johnson used his overwhelming Parliamentary majority to push through controversial legislation that would allow police to curb the right of protest and could endanger freedom of expression – despite widespread opposition and criticism. The Police, Sentencing and Courts Bill would amend the Public Order Act of 1986 on the regulation of protest marches and is being scrutinized in the House of Lords before it’s sent back to Parliament. It passed the House of Commons with no significant amendments even after a wide range of public opposition even from senior police officials and his own party. AEJ UK Secretary Charles Jenkins wrote that the new laws were a “severe challenge to peaceful freedom of protest long regarded as one of the fundamental rights of British citizens and indeed of those of all properly democratic countries” and noted the legislation “looks more like the rule book of an authoritarian regime than a democracy”. - More than 700 legal scholars sent an open letter urging the Prime Minister Boris Johnson to ditch the “draconian” restrictions. - more than 245 charities, community groups and campaigners joined a campaign by human rights group Liberty and environmental group Friends of the Earth to stop the legislation. - Prominent members of Johnson’s own Conservative party raised serious concerns – former Prime Minister Theresa May, former attorney general Dominic Grieve, and joining with him in a joint letter even pro Brexit and Covid lockdown opponent Steve Baker. - Even senior police and crime commissioners across England and Wales said the proposed law went too far. The government’s police bill has the potential for long lasting restrictions to public protest. Perhaps illustrative of the complexities of its implementation – people’s rights, public order, public safety, political agendas – was the government’s own role in controversial police handling of a vigil on March 13 2021 for Sarah Everard, abducted, raped and murdered after walking through a park in Clapham south London. Late in the vigil police forcibly arrested several people in an intervention many said was misjudged. It appeared from a memo leaked to The Guardian newspaper that the government supported and encouraged the police action even though it later criticized it in the wake of criticism. A Metropolitan Police officer, Wayne Couzens, later pleaded guilty to the rape and murder and was sentenced to prison for the rest of his life. Police bill passes Commons Police bill proposed An authoritarian rule book? The bill Legal scholars protest Community and human rights group campaign Former Conservative prime minister Theresa May warning Former Conservative attorney general Dominic Grieve concerns Pro Brexit and anti lockdown Conservative Steve Baker Police and crime commissioners Police manhandle vigil Sara Everard vigil Questionable police tactics Leaked government memo Police officer pleads guilty to rape and murder Police Bill Protests Objections to the proposed UK Police Bill that could restrict protest and freedom of expression for a long time into the future were also in danger of being confused and hijacked by anti-Covid lockdown campaigners and others. A protest in Bristol organised against the new bill on March 21 turned violent - local Avon and Somerset Police said what started "as a peaceful protest" had been "turned by a small minority into a violent disorder". The city’s mayor Marvin Rees warned that the “lawlessness on show” will be “used as evidence and promote the need for the bill”. A London demonstration the previous day against lockdown restrictions – including prominent anti-vaccine and conspiracy theorists - similarly ended in arrests. Meanwhile there were genuine demonstrations against the new police bill across the country on the weekend. Perhaps it’s not surprising that opponents of the police bill were confused with anti-lockdown protesters as well as others – in many cases the issue was portrayed as the same, the right to protest. Much mainstream media coverage did not clearly distinguish between the two and even Members of Parliament and Liberty have conflated them. For the past year multiple groups of people – far right figures, long-time conspiracy theorists, Covid deniers, anti-vaxxers opposed to the Covid vaccines, anti-lockdown protesters – were brought together in a long-running and shadowy campaign to oppose the UK government’s temporary Covid safety regulations – which allow restrictions on public gatherings. Such protests are by no means restricted to the UK and have spread around the world on both a large and small scale. Even a seemingly innocent Hokey Cokey display in a Hastings park turns out to be connected to a global campaign by A Stand in the Park, which appears to have been started in Australia and claims to stand “for unity, for truth & for freedom”. In Bristol two subsequent protests on March 23 and 26 exposed an added mosaic of different protesters – pro-women's rights, anti-police bill, "van dwellers"and travellers' supporters, left-wing anti-establishment protesters from Extinction Rebellion and Black Lives Matter – combined with questionable policing and police tactics. In the wake of violence between protesters and police, leading politicians, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Home Secretary Priti Patel and Opposition Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, predictably expressed outrage and alarm at the danger to public safety, further amplifying the media storm. There are alternative interpretations of events in Bristol – for instance here in the FT (Financial Times), local co-operative newspaper and website the Bristol Cable, left wing website The Canary and from the Anarchist Federation. And it may take a while to clarify and decipher the various forces involved: How and why does peaceful protest turn into violence? Is peaceful and legitimate objection to specific issues getting hijacked by people with other agendas? Who are the different protesters and what are their issues? Not so hidden agendas Amidst the confusion and controversy wrought by the coronavirus, Boris Johnson’s government has kept pushing its longer term agendas, often with minimal scrutiny from much of the media and the public. It has already used its overwhelming majority to pass laws in the House of Commons that would allow police to curb the right of protest and could endanger freedom of expression – although this legislation was still being debated in the House of Lords in the autumn of 2021 and awaited final approval. And with the return of Parliament in autumn 2021 it has plans for a number of other measures that similarly could threaten both free speech and the ability of journalists to do their job: – changes to the Official Secrets Act that could curtail investigative reporting and threaten whistleblowers - repealing the law that requires Parliament to sit for a fixed 5 year term, thus allowing a prime minister to call an election whenever he or she wants - new online safety laws which cabinet ministers claim are meant to protect online users and control the power of tech giants like Facebook and Google but critics say threatens free speech and gives the government wider control on censorship. Earlier, in 2020, it started revamping the civil service – replacing a series of key civil servants including the top one – and pursuing a hard Brexit, including the appointments of controversial former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott as a trade adviser and hardline Brexit negotiator David Frost as a cabinet minister. Despite repeated questions about many of the government’s actions through the pandemic, the Johnson government managed to avoid any comprehensive inquiry into lockdown policies, questionable contracts and spending, protection for both health care workers and vulnerable care home patients, and testing and prevention programs. Journalists carried much of the responsibility for scrutinising the UK government in the first three months of the year as opposition parties struggled to come to terms with the Conservative government’s surprise sweep of seats in December's election muting much opposition scrutiny, first of Brexit and then of the virus crisis, as they were overwhelmed by a combination of the election result, government manoeuvring, and the complexity of both major issues. The main opposition Labour party was without an effective leader until early April when Keir Starmer was elected. Official Secrets Act Government to change Official Secrets Act Journalists to be criminals? History of suppression RSF alarm Repealing elections law Elections law levelling down? A step forward or backward? New online safety laws Government plans online safety Government plan threatens free speech Serious concerns about freedom of expression Article 19 warning on risk to free speech Government mandarins Civil service revamp Power shift? New civil service head Former Australian PM appointed David Frost David Frost on Brexit and Ireland The Covid Future Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced his plan for coming out of a two-month lockdown with a staged series of measures opening schools, retail and leisure locations, hospitality venues, sports centres and events, travel, and social distancing. Unsurprisingly there has been reaction across multiple sectors along with questions and criticism about the details particularly from the hospitality industry, the education sector, academics and scientists, and right wing politicians in his own party's so-called Covid Recovery Group. Johnson’s “roadmap” is aimed at easing the lockdown he imposed in early January aimed at halting the spread of Covid-19 in England. His nation-wide television announcement came after mounting concern about continuing rapid spread of the coronavirus and weeks of criticism about delays and questionable handling of pupils’ return to school in the new year. The measures on January 4 – along with similar rules in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, the other nations of the UK - were the latest in a sequence of increasingly tighter restrictions through December including adding London and much of the southeast to the highest Tier 4 level just before Christmas and much of the rest of England right afterwards. They came along with a burgeoning ray of hope across the world for the success of the first anti-Covid vaccines – vaccines that the UK had successfully pre-ordered and allowed it to be the first in the world to start vaccinating people. Despite that success, the Johnson government’s later decision to extend the time between two required inoculations without proper testing raised serious questions from two major drug regulators – the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the U.S. Federal Drug Administration (FDA) - as well as the first vaccine developer (Pfizer/BioNTech). The lockdown measures signalled the end of the Johnson government’s attempts to loosen restrictions through the holidays and came less than a week before Christmas. That U-turn came after growing pressure for action from medical experts - in a rare joint editorial in the British Medical Journal and the Health Service Journal on December 15 and warnings of problems from its own scientific advisors a month earlier, warnings echoed by the Opposition Labour Party. The Prime Minister claimed he made the decision because new scientific data showed a new strain of the virus was spreading much faster than the previous one. Please see here for more on the sequence of previous covid action by the UK government. Covid and the Media The coronavirus pandemic has marked a worrying new wave of serious threats and attacks on media freedom in Europe said the latest annual report of the Council of Europe Platform to Promote the Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists. In a report titled “Hands Off Press Freedom: Attacks on Media in Europe must not become a New Normal” the fourteen member press freedom organisations including the AEJ documented how several Council of Europe member states have detained journalists for critical reporting, vastly expanded surveillance, and passed new laws to punish “fake news” even as they decide themselves what is allowable and what is false without the oversight of appropriate independent bodies. The report – available in full here – said these threats risk a tipping point in the fight to preserve a free media in Europe and aggravate an already gloomy outlook. The AEJ has played an active part with other media freedom organisations to highlight such attempts as detailed in this report from William Horsley, AEJ media freedom representative and UK chairman. And in a statement marking World Press Freedom Day on May 3, Council of Europe Secretary General Marija Pejčinović Burić urged governments to avoid misusing the COVID-19 situation to silence or hinder journalists. Misuse of emergency measures As many governments introduced sweeping laws to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic, the AEJ has joined other media freedom groups in two urgent calls to European leaders to protect media freedom. They have called for “determined actions” from the Council of Europe, the 47-nation treaty-based human rights organisation, to protect the free flow of information and journalists’ right to report amid fears of a potentially dangerous slide towards authoritarianism and police-state societies. In particular the open letter cites Hungary - where the prime minister has open-ended powers to rule by decree and journalists and others are subject to prison sentences for promoting alleged “false information” or impeding government orders – as well as Slovenia and the Czech Republic which have suspended usual press conferences open to questions from journalists. “The present emergency situation represents a critical threat both to public health and to the civil and political rights of people across Europe,” said William Horsley, AEJ media freedom representative and AEJ UK chairman. “Now is the time for free and independent media and for all those who believe in basic democratic standards and open government, to combine forces and to uphold the free flow of information and the inalienable rights of everyone as guaranteed under the European Convention on Human Rights.” Please see the open letter here to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, and the current and next presidents of the Committee of Ministers, the organisation’s executive decision-making body. It follows an urgent warning against misuse of emergency laws from the AEJ and partner organisations to the presidents of the European Commission, the European Council, and European Parliament. It emphasizes that the free flow of independent news is essential both to maintain accurate information to the public and to ensure public scrutiny and debate on emergency measures, and notes all such measures must be necessary, proportionate, temporary and strictly time-limited, and subject to regular scrutiny to ensure excessive powers do not undermine democratic balances, including the free press. The urgent letter supports a joint statement from three global special rapporteurs on freedom of expression with the UN, OSCE and the OAS and is signed by: AEJ ARTICLE 19 European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) European Federation of Journalists Free Press Unlimited (FPU) Index on Censorship International Federation of Journalists International Press Institute (IPI) Reporters Without Borders (RSF) The open letter is also available here on the International Press Institute website. Coronavirus coverage There is a global study showing a majority of the public around the world get their information about coronavirus from mainstream media – yet journalists are their least trusted source. Please see this report in the UK Press Gazette and here for more on coronavirus coverage in the UK. The AEJ International site has interesting links to EU coverage of the coronavirus story on its home page. How personal data could contribute to a cure EU response to Covid 19 – every government for itself Virus cartoons Five decisions the EU should make Brexit Deal The UK and the European Union have approved an agreement on a trade deal after Brexit. The last-minute deal allows Britain to continue trading with the EU and may avoid the massive disruption to the economy and people’s lives expected if there had been no deal. Exactly how the deal affects business, the economy and individuals will only become clearer with time with constantly updated reporting available here: Associated Press (AP) - https://apnews.com/hub/brexit Financial Times(FT) - https://www.ft.com/brexit The Guardian -https://www.theguardian.com/politics/eu-referendum BBC - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/uk_leaves_the_eu Details of the deal are here and for some early analysis please see: FT - https://www.ft.com/content/34dd4cbe-33ef-32f8-9aa2-904339e46bf0 AP - https://apnews.com/article/brexit-europe-global-trade-europe-e0e9914361f0f8975b7f49a834497c5d Council on Foreign Relations (U.S. based) - https://www.cfr.org/in-brief/whats-eu-uk-brexit-deal For questions about the deal itself and its impact please see: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/55252388 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/explainers-55261711 UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson unsurprisingly heralded the Christmas Eve deal as delivering on Brexit by taking back control of UK laws and destiny. He said the deal will protect jobs, allow UK goods to be sold without tariffs and quotas in the EU market, and allow companies to do even more business with Europe. From January 1, the UK will be outside the European customs union and single market, Johnson said, and British laws will be made solely by the British parliament, interpreted by UK judges sitting in UK courts, and no longer subject to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice – all demands of ardent Brexiteers. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the deal was fair and balanced and Brussels would "continue cooperating with the UK in all areas of mutual interest" such as climate change, transport and security. She said agreement on the highly contentious but symbolic issue of fishing rights guaranteed 5½ years of "full predictability for our fishing communities". Rejoining the EU? Even as the ink dries on the Brexit trade deal and at least early problems with it surface, there are of course questions about Britain’s future relationship with the EU – including the possibility of rejoining. AEJ member Nick Hopkinson predicts future British governments will eventually seek closer relations again and may even want to rejoin. The former director of Wilton Park, the international policy forum, and a long-time supporter of close relations with the EU, Hopkinson examines how and when that might be in this article in The New European. Brexit – January 2020 The United Kingdom officially left the European Union at midnight Central European Time on January 31, 2020. For a range of news coverage and what it meant please see these links: https://apnews.com/e48bf51838ced94e2d92adba189b4944 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-51333314 https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/10858199/brexit-news-uk-live-eu-latest/ https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2020/feb/01/brexit-britain-wakes-up-to-uncertain-future-after-uk-leaves-eu-live-news-and-updates https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/brexit/what-happens-after-brexit-day-uk-transition-period-when-leaving-eu-date-explained-1373410 https://edition.cnn.com/europe/live-news/brexit-day-uk-leaves-eu-gbr-intl/index.html https://www.foxnews.com/category/world/world-regions/europe/brexit https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/01/brexit-uk-officially-leaves-european-union-200131211418625.html https://www.gov.uk/transition https://www.gov.uk/staying-uk-eu-citizen The course of Brexit was set when UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson won his bet on the future of Britain in a snap election on December 12 2019. Voters woke up on Friday the 13^thDecember 2019 to a thumping Conservative majority, the resignations of both main opposition party leaders – Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn and the Liberal Democrats’ Jo Swinson, and a resurgent Scottish National Party seeking the independence of Scotland. Please also see here for: Election result numbers And here for how Johnson’s Conservatives won: https://www.ft.com/content/ab3692b0-2317-11ea-92da-f0c92e957a96 https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/uk/how-boris-johnson-became-britain-s-most-powerful-prime-minister-since-tony-blair-1.4120281 See here for more Brexit news

Lunchtime meetings Covid-19 Impact The AEJ UK hopes to resume regular in person lunchtime meetings at Regent’s University as soon as possible depending on circumstances related to the Covid pandemic. AEJ UK meetings usually start at 12:30 and are open to journalists, academics and Europe specialists and guests. Pre-registration is necessary by email to cas.jenkins@gmail.com. A fee of £25 is charged to cover the cost of refreshments - £10 for under-25s and free admission may be extended to students on a discretionary basis. Friday October 29 AEJ online meeting with Bob Ward, policy and communications director of LSE's Grantham Institute on Climate Change and the Environment. He has been closely monitoring the promises and actions of key countries participating at the COP26 summit in Glasgow. Reports on meetings are usually available on this website and for a list of our recent lunchtime guests see Events.  AEJ UK meetings were kindly hosted at Europe House, the London home of the EU Commission and European Parliament, for many years. Please see their UK website for EU events and information. Recent AEJ UK guests Brexit breakup? Is the United Kingdom about to fall apart? No is the short answer from history professor Brendan Simms. In fact he argues that Brexit will actually make the United Kingdom stronger after a period of flux with Ireland and Scotland. He made his case at an online AEJ meeting on 9 September 2021 using a complex analysis of the history of the UK and its relationships with Europe combined with his view of political events in the last 5 years. Simms is professor of the history of European international relations and director of the Centre for Geopolitics at Cambridge University whose published historical works - including “Europe: The Struggle for Supremacy, 1453 to the Present” and “Britain’s Europe: A Thousand Years of Conflict and Cooperation” – have cast a penetrating light on past European military and political conflicts and shifting alliances that eventually united England with the three other nations of the British Isles in a United Kingdom. A frequent contributor to the New Statesman and other media, his recent writing since the 2016 Brexit vote has illuminated the ways in which ancient rival nationalisms, and modern tensions between rival legal and political systems, underlie the most incendiary topics in today’s news agenda on Europe - in particular the renewed drive for Scottish independence and the highly-charged dispute between the UK and the EU over the status of Northern Ireland after Brexit. Please see this report written jointly by AEJ member Martyn Bond and AEJ UK chairman William Horsley and here for an audio record of the meeting. No goodwill from Russia Lithuania’s special ambassador for hybrid threats and resilience says his country is in the middle of a "massive information war" with Russia. Darius Semaska was speaking to the AEJ UK on June 22 via Zoom from his home in Lithuania less than a month after a Ryanair jet bound for his capital Vilnius was forced to land in their mutual neighbour Belarus in the contrived arrest of outspoken dissident and journalist Roman Protasevich. Russia denied claims of its involvement despite President Vladimir Putin’s continued support for Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko. Appointed last year as Lithuania’s Ambassador at Large for Hybrid Threats and Resilience, Semaska is a former chief foreign policy adviser to the Lithuanian president and ambassador to the Netherlands and Germany. On the frontline of the struggle with Russia along with neighbouring Baltic states, the Lithuanian ambassador outlined Russia’s current use of political and media subversion, disruption of energy supplies, cyber aggression, and military threats and action aimed at destabilising western democracies and weakening NATO - and some of the measures taken by his country to counter this hostile strategy. For more on this meeting please see this report from Peter Norman, AEJ UK Meetings Secretary and former chief EU correspondent of the Financial Times, and here for an audio record. Germany post-Merkel The era of Angela Merkel and “Germany first” may soon change to older, more Euro-centric policies predicts leading German columnist Alan Posener. The former senior editor and now columnist at Die Welt newspaper spoke to an AEJ UK meeting on May 18 about the outlook for “Germany after Angela Merkel”. After 16 years in power Mrs Merkel will stand down as Chancellor of Germany at September’s elections. In his iconoclastic assessment, Posener says that despite her reputation as a rock of political stability and a committed European, Angela Merkel took a ‘Germany-first’ approach to important policy decisions, leaving deep divisions within German society and antagonizing many of Germany’s neighbours. Please see here for an edited text of his remarks and here for an audio record of the meeting. Life after Brexit Adjustment, adaptation, acceptance: three words from the EU's ambassador to the United Kingdom sum up the challenges facing Brexit Britain. João Vale de Almeida told the AEJ UK on April 26 that all three are needed to meet the opportunities and challenges of future relations between the EU and the UK. By contrast, the ambassador has needed stoicism and patience during his first 15 turbulent months in office since taking up his post on February 1 2020, the first full day of Brexit after the UK's departure from the European Union. Even his title is in dispute as the UK government has so far refused to grant him the same diplomatic status as it gives to envoys of nation states. In those 15 months, tensions have flared between London and Brussels over the Brexit agreement's Northern Ireland Protocol, its effects on trade between the British mainland and Northern Ireland, fishing rights, and over the supply of Covid 19 vaccines between manufacturing sites in the UK and the EU. João Vale de Almeida brings a wealth of diplomatic experience to his role at this crucial time in UK-EU relations. He has occupied a succession of senior EU posts since joining the European Commission in 1982 in Lisbon, including EU ambassador to the UN and to the USA, director general of the EU's External Action Service, and head of the EU Commission president’s office when fellow Portuguese national Jose Manuel Barroso was president. For more on his presentation please see this report from former FT economics editor Peter Norman and here for an audio record. Global Britain What is the future for Britain post Brexit? That’s the question Ed Balls would like the UK to debate, publicly and sensibly. The former Labour Chancellor argues that it needs to steer a middle course, truly accepting that Britain has left the EU and making the right choices to prosper domestically and internationally. And he says failure to get Global Britain right could endanger the very existence of a “United Kingdom”. Speaking at the AEJ UK on March 26, the former politician – and celebrity dancer, champion cook, and documentary maker – warned that the “Global Britain” slogan poses major challenges for the UK’s two main political parties and their leaders who will have to “start building an answer about what a modern forward looking Global Britain looks like outside the EU”. Now professor of political economy at King’s College London and a research fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, Balls co-authored “Finding Global Britain”, a vision of how to turn what was a Brexiteer slogan into policies for “a pragmatic but ambitiously outward-looking and progressive country”. The Harvard University paper focused on five themes: trade policy, regulation, migration, domestic inequalities, and the need for a new national narrative. At the AEJ, Balls detailed some of the challenges and opportunities inherent in that. For more please see this report by Peter Norman, AEJ meetings secretary and former economics editor of the Financial Times, and click here for an audio record. Russian politics in election year As Russian Opposition leader Alexei Navalny remained in jail, the AEJ UK linked to Moscow live to speak with Dr. Ekaterina Schulmann, Moscow-based political scientist and associate fellow at the Chatham House Russia and Eurasia Program. The meeting on February 8 2021 came against the background of Navalny’s tumultuous return to Russia after a failed attempt by Russian secret security agents to assassinate him with a Novichok nerve agent, sparking a Russia-wide wave of anti-government protests echoing those still going on in neighbouring Belarus. Dr. Schulmann noted that after 22 years in power, Russian President Vladimir Putin this year faces enormous political challenges as the Russian political system enters a turbulent transition phase. Parliamentary elections due in autumn 2021 and a presidential election due in 2024 come amid increasing expectations of change among younger generations of Russians. She said the political system has to renew itself and that will not be easy with the risk for the ruling elite not so much from a popular uprising but from conflicts within itself in reaction to popular discontent. Please see here for a report on the meeting from Charles Jenkins, AEJ secretary and former Europe editor/director western Europe at the Economist Intelligence Unit and this audio record. See here for more AEJ UK guest speakers AEJ Media Freedom Project The AEJ works to protect freedom of expression and independent journalism by bringing issues to the attention of governments and advising inter-governmental organisations on behalf of our members. The AEJ’s Media Freedom Representative and Vice President is William Horsley, a former BBC foreign correspondent and the current chairman of the UK section. Since the AEJ Media Freedom Survey in 2007 (Goodbye to Freedom?), the AEJ has published Europe-wide surveys and reports that reveal the erosion of press freedom through physical assaults, wrongful imprisonment, oppressive laws, and unacceptable political and commercial pressures. The AEJ is an observer at the Council of Europe. Since 2 April 2015, it has been one of the eight partners in the Council’s online platform for early warning of and rapid response to attacks on the media. For more information, see Media Freedom. The AEJ actively supports the ongoing efforts of UNESCO, the UN Agency with a mandate to safeguard media freedom, to implement the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity. The AEJ Media Freedom Representative authored the OSCE’s Safety of Journalists Guidebook setting out the obligations of participating states to protect the security of journalists, including those using the Internet. Our campaigns and activities can also be tracked on the Media Freedom and News pages of the international AEJ website, www.aej.org AEJ and the Council of Europe The AEJ takes part in the policy work of the Council of Europe (CoE) on key issues of media freedom as a participant in the steering committee on Media and Information Society and the Platform to Promote the Protection of Journalism and the Safety of Journalists. It works on behalf of its members across Europe to hold the CoE and its 47 member states to their commitments on media freedom and freedom of expression. To read further, please go to Media Freedom. Media visits to the European Parliament The EP’s London Office has a small budget to offset some of the travel and hotel costs incurred by journalists when visiting the European Parliament. Only a limited number can be helped in this way, so you must first be invited by the UK Office before seeking reimbursement (see EP website). Briefings A selection of AEJ-related writings and activities AEJ member Rick Thompson’s book Park Life has been published – a diary in praise of urban parks, detailing a year of the wildlife in his local park by the Avon and tangential thoughts about legends, folklore, science, climate change, and the health benefits of regular contact with nature. AEJ member Charles Jenkins, former Western Europe editor of the Economist Intelligence Unit, blogs on Europe at https://eupriorities.ideasoneurope.eu/ Firdevs Robinson’s writing is now accessible on FirdevsTalkTurkey.com William Horsley blogs on the Centre for Freedom of the Media website.

News Daphne still needs justice Four years ago investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was murdered in a car bomb attack in Malta. Yet justice and accountability remain elusive despite a public inquiry that found the state responsible for her killing. On the anniversary of her death on October 16 2017, the AEJ joined 15 international journalists’ and civil society organisations to renew calls for the Maltese government to accept the inquiry’s detailed recommendations, publish a plan of action on how they will be implemented, and ensure better protection of journalists going forward. The AEJ notes that the government whose corruption she investigated repeatedly obstructed the path to justice including delays to the public inquiry. Dozens of civil defamation lawsuits continued against her posthumously. And human rights defenders and journalists campaigning on her case have been subjected to serious pressure, harassment and acts of reprisal. So far, eight men have either admitted to or been charged with complicity to kill her. In London the AEJ joined other media freedom organisations in a commemoration vigil outside Malta’s High Commission. The vigil included a message from Daphne’s family and speakers from sponsor orgnisations including the Maltese community in London, ARTICLE 19, the Association of European Journalists, the Commonwealth Journalists Association, Index on Censorship, PEN International, Reporters Without Borders, and Transparency International-UK. International joint call for justice London vigil and message from Daphne’s family Public inquiry report (partial translation) More on Daphne Crusading journalists win Nobel Peace Prize The AEJ has underlined the importance of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize award to two journalists – Maria Ressa of the Philippines and Dmitry Muratov in Russia – for their ”courageous fight” to defend freedom of expression. The AEJ’s media freedom representative William Horsley notes that the award “raises public awareness of the need for urgent and effective actions to reverse what it calls the ‘adverse conditions’ for democracy and freedom of the press today.”  And he writes that the “Nobel Committee has spoken in the name of the most powerful court in the world – the court of informed public opinion.” The chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Berit Reiss-Andersen, said when she announced the prize in Oslo on October 8: "Free, independent and fact-based journalism serves to protect against abuse of power, lies and war propaganda," adding that the award winners are "representatives of all journalists who stand up for this ideal”. This Nobel Peace Prize is the first for journalists since 1935 when German Carl von Ossietzky won it for revealing Germany’s secret post-war rearmament programme. Ressa is co-founder and CEO of Rappler, a news site which has consistently exposed the "abuse of power, use of violence and growing authoritarianism” by the regime of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. Muratov is co-founder and editor of independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta which has defended freedom of speech in Russia for decades under increasingly challenging conditions. Six of its journalists have been murdered since it started in 1993 including Anna Politkovskaya who exposed Russian human rights in its war in Chechnya. The award came one day after the 15th anniversary of her killing. Nobel Peace Prize award 2021 AEJ media freedom representative on the impact BBC on Nobel Peace Prize 2021 CNN on Nobel Peace Prize 2021 Al Jazeera on Nobel Peace Prize 2021 The Guardian on Nobel Peace Prize 2021 Maria Ressa convicted of libel Maria Ressa global solidarity campaign Rappler Dmitry Muratov Novaya Gazeta Anna Politkovskaya UK judge rules on misuse of Pegasus spyware A senior UK high court judge has ruled that the ruler of Dubai hacked the phone of his ex-wife Princess Haya using the Israeli NSO Group’s controversial Pegasus spyware in an unlawful abuse of power and trust. And the Israeli manufacturer said it had terminated the contract for its Pegasus spyware with the United Arab Emirates of which the Dubai ruler is prime minister and vice president. The ruling - made in 2020 but only revealed on October 6 2021 due to legal reporting restrictions - found that agents acting on behalf of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum hacked Princess Haya and five of her associates while the couple were locked in court proceedings in London over the welfare of their two children. The court judgment appeared to confirm one of many elements in the massive Pegasus spyware investigation. And it also raised questions about the role of Cherie Blair, wife of former UK prime Minister Tony Blair and an adviser on human rights to NSO. Court papers showed that Cherie Blair alerted one of the targets about the hack - Princess Haya’s lawyer Fiona Shackleton, a member of the House of Lords and previously lawyer for Prince Charles in his divorce from Princess Diana. UK court ruling NSO cancels UAE Pegasus contract Lessons from the UK court on Pegasus Pegasus spyware scandal Questions for Cherie Blair Pandora Papers revelations on the rich The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has released its latest leak of millions of documents revealing offshore deals and assets of more than 100 billionaires, 35 world leaders and 300 public officials. Following on from the Panama Papers leak of 2016, the Pandora Papers spotlight how deeply secretive finance has infiltrated global politics – and offer insights into why governments and global organizations have made little headway in ending offshore financial abuses. The biggest ever leak of offshore data reveals the secret deals and hidden assets of some of the world’s richest and most powerful people. They expose the secret offshore affairs of 35 world leaders - including current and former presidents, prime ministers and heads of state, more than 300 other public officials such as government ministers, judges, mayors and military generals in more than 90 countries, and more than 100 billionaires, celebrities, rock stars and business leaders. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson laughed off the revelations when asked about them and the UK has no plan to investigate the claims despite hundreds of millions of pounds flowing through the UK and questionable donations to Johnson’s Conservative party. The International Consortium of Journalists was formed in 1997 to facilitate investigation of issues that crossed national borders. The Pandora Papers involved more than 600 journalists from 150 media outlets in 117 countries, including BBC Panorama, The Guardian, Le Monde, Die Zeit and the Washington Post. Pandora Papers leak ICIJ Pandora Papers details Pandora Papers guide More details on the Pandora Papers How Pandora’s box was opened Boris laughs off Pandora Media blackout on Poland’s border with Belarus The Polish government is facing new criticism over media restrictions – this time over a blackout on media reporting from part of its eastern border with Belarus. The Polish government has used emergency powers there to deal with a hostile campaign by Belarus to send thousands of unathorised migrants from foreign countries into Poland. But in the context of recent government moves to tighten control of the media, critics say the measures are preventing independent verification of activity in the area and NGO efforts to provide emergency assistance to migrants. The Polish state of emergency was first imposed on September 2 and the government has extended it for another 60 days. AEJ Poland’s Chris Bobinski has this report. Civil society groups demand real results from EU Rule of Law reports The AEJ has joined 60 other journalistic and civil society groups in an open letter to top European Commission officials criticising what they call the often “fruitless” impact of the EU’s annual Rule of Law reports covering the 27 member states. Starting from next year, the signatories have demanded sweeping reforms to the rule of law mechanism to make it an effective tool with “real power” to protect media freedoms and prevent systemic human rights across the European Union. In its second and most recent annual report, the EU Commission claimed progress by ‘deepening’ its assessment of member states’ conduct and spoke of progress towards judicial reforms as well as “serious concerns” about the independence of the judiciary in some member states. But the coalition of civil society groups said the Commission had pulled its punches. And in many cases signatory organisations said their efforts to monitor and inform the Commission about systemic failings had been “fruitless and in vain” because the Commission had adopted a “very narrow interpretation” of the rule of law. The groups called for a more open and inclusive public consultation process and robust tackling of issues like state capture of public service media and repression of human rights defenders. You can find the full text of the civil society recommendations here. EU Commission President promises better protections Ursula von der Leyen has vowed to make protections for journalists one of the Commission’s foremost priorities. “We need to stop those who threaten media freedom”, she declared, citing the murders of Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta, Jan Kuciak in Slovakia, and Peter de Vries in the Netherlands as examples. The European Commission president used her State of the Union speech to the European Parliament on September 15 to note that the independence of media companies is essential and the EC is putting forward a “recommendation” aimed at giving journalists better protection. She also promised that the EU would have a Media Freedom Act within the next year. AEJ media freedom representative William Horsley has this analysis of the announcement. Appeals to help journalists in Afghanistan The AEJ is supporting actions by a number of other groups trying to protect journalists in Afghanistan. The AEJ is one of more than 50 media and civil society organisations, including many with long-standing operations in Afghanistan, which presented urgent recommendations to the leaders of the G7 countries to ensure the protection of journalists and their families in Afghanistan. The joint statement was published on 23 August as the international evacuation of Afghans at high risk from the Taliban takeover approached its final phase and called for a series of specific measures: - an explicit commitment to evacuate all journalists, media workers and media advocates at risk and their families - Ease visa restrictions for all Afghan journalists, media workers, media advocates and their families seeking asylum - Simplify and secure the process for visa application, and collaborate with third countries when possible - Provide safe passage to and at the airport and other routes - Remain in Kabul in order to secure the airport and the possibility to evacuate beyond the August 31 deadline - Create an emergency fund for Afghan journalists and media workers - Provide pathways for cash to enter in the country - Repurpose development budget lines to address the emergency situation - Coordinate efforts within the United Nations system for immediate support - Call for the establishment of an independent monitoring and investigative mechanism at the Human Rights Council that is adequately staffed and resourced. The AEJ also supported the UK National Union of Journalists’ appeal to help media colleagues in Afghanistan and establish a special fund with the International Federation of Journalists to seek donations. The AEJ supports the IFJ’s initiative to set up an Afghanistan Solidarity Fund to channel urgent support to journalists by all means possible. Reporters Without Borders has called on the UN Security Council to meet in extraordinary session to address the crisis resulting from the fall of Kabul and the situation of journalists in particular. AEJ media freedom representative William Horsley said most at risk are those who have worked with western media or benefitted from foreign funding of a modern media and information sector in the country over the past twenty years. He called on European governments to act immediately to provide emergency humanitarian visas, refugee status and new opportunities abroad to Afghan journalists. Hundreds of journalists and their family members were among countless thousands of Afghans scrambling to obtain safe passage on flights out of the country amid scenes of chaos and sometimes violence. The International Federation of Journalists estimated that forced closures of media outlets had already left over one thousand Afghan media workers jobless. There were reports of journalists and broadcasters around the country being attacked or going into hiding and women media workers need special protection against dire punishments and accusations of sexual crimes.   Recommendations to the G7 NUJ appeal International Federation of Journalists special fund Afghanistan Solidarity Fund AEJ on Afghanistan Malta responsible for murder An independent public inquiry into the murder of Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia has found the state responsible for her killing because it had created a “culture of impunity”. The inquiry report, published on July 29, said officials had failed to adequately protect Caruana Galizia from threats to her life prior to her death in October 2017. The AEJ hailed the findings and joined Article 19 and 8 other partner organizations to call on Malta to implement the inquiry report and publish an action plan without delay to ensure better protection for journalists. The inquiry - conducted by one serving judge and two retired judges - heard from dozens of witnesses, including investigators, politicians and journalists over the past two years. This is an unofficial informal translation of the report. Caruana Galizia spent decades before her murder investigating corruption in Malta’s government and in 2017 effectively triggered an early election by publishing allegations linking the then prime minister to the Panama Papers scandal which exposed the use of tax havens by the rich. Her family noted that the Maltese government only agreed to establish the inquiry – more than two years after the assassination - under threat of legal proceedings and following international pressure. The AEJ has worked consistently with other media freedom organizations to focus attention on the case and the Forbidden Stories network coordinated and compiled the work of many journalists following the assassination. Please see here for more. Guardian report on inquiry Inquiry report BBC report on inquiry Al Jazeera report on inquiry AEJ calls for reforms Article 19 calls for action Forbidden Stories compilation of stories Last interview with Daphne Daphne’s blog – Running Commentary The Daphne Foundation Inquiry report informal translation UNESCO highlights need for safety of foreign correspondents UNESCO has released a new report on the safety – and increasing threats to it – for foreign journalists. The report emphasizes the crucial role of foreign reporting and the specific threats and political hostility that have been particularly visible during the Covid 19 pandemic. The report was co-written by Meera Selva of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism and William Horsley, AEJ media freedom representative and international director of the Centre for Freedom of the Media at the University of Sheffield. He notes that “threats faced by journalists who report across international borders represent an existential challenge to people’s right to live in free and democratic societies. State authorities, lawmakers and civil society actors everywhere must ensure that breaches of international rules protecting the safety and work of journalists have real-life consequences. This is one of the most urgent tasks of our time.” Please see here for more. UK public television under pressure It is not only in some eastern European countries and places further away that mainstream independent media face government pressure. It is also in the UK. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government has opened a public “consultation” on the future of Channel 4 to “review” its ownership and possibly sell it off to private commercial interests. Channel 4 is currently owned by the government but funded on a commercial basis. It has a long and strong reputation for independent journalism including criticism of the government since it was founded in 1982 – under Margaret Thatcher’s government. The current government claims Channel 4 is at risk in a rapidly changing media landscape. At almost exactly the same time Channel 4 announced its best ever financial results. And it has strongly criticized the government’s plans for lack of evidence and transparency. The government consultation was due to end on September 14. The government’s move on Channel 4 follows increased pressure on the BBC in the wake of an embarrassing critical report on how it handled its scoop interview with Princess Diana over 25 years ago. The BBC was already under pressure over its own cuts to local news across the UK and a looming government review of funding and governance and the report unsurprisingly sparked questions and criticism from both long-time critics in Fleet Street tabloids – with their own long history of questionable practice – and Boris Johnson’s government and MPs. The independent report on May 20 2021 by retired judge Lord John Dyson found that journalist Martin Bashir used deceitful practices – faked documents designed to convince Princess Diana to grant the blockbuster interview in 1995 in which she spoke candidly about the breakdown of her marriage to Prince Charles, heir to the throne. The report also said BBC management failed to follow its own protocols before the interview, was “woefully ineffective” in its subsequent investigations, and asked if a series of BBC management actions following the interview constituted a cover-up. The BBC apologized, said it has better procedures now, and launched an internal review of its editorial policies. It did not specify how it will deal with management failures in the handling of the issues. Arguably the world’s most trusted news source, the BBC now faces a series of questions about its actions and opportunistic calls for changes that could endanger its editorial independence and possibly threaten its very existence. Journalistic media like the UK Press Gazette and organizations such as the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) rallied to defend the BBC’s journalists but they also noted difficult questions still to be answered. Government consultation on Channel 4 Government considers sell off Media minister defends plan Channel 4 record results Channel 4 criticizes government plan BBC critical report Dyson report text Fleet Street critics Fleet Street practice Culture Secretary warns BBC MPs want answers Martin Bashir BBC cover up? BBC internal review BBC faces questions BBC vulnerable NUJ statement Questions for the BBC AEJ calls for ban on Pegasus spyware The AEJ has published an open letter to the European Commission calling for an immediate EU-wide ban on the import and misuse of Pegasus spyware. Quoting a headline in the respected Israeli daily Haaretz – “Israel’s NSO and Pegasus Are a Clear and Present Danger to Democracy Around the World” - the AEJ also calls for a thorough official investigation of EU member states’ use of this and other forms of electronic spying and an effective ban on SLAPPs - strategic lawsuits against public participation that have been used to intimidate and silence criticism through expensive and baseless legal proceedings. AEJ media freedom representative and UK chairman William Horsley writes that the Pegasus revelations are “shocking evidence of the widespread misuse of spyware and malware against journalists and others….[and] … also demonstrates the massive power of the ‘criminal services industry’ that serves corrupt forces including undemocratic governments worldwide”. Revelations on July 18 2021 about the use of Pegasus software used to spy on journalists and political opponents sparked a worldwide row. They showed human rights activists, journalists and lawyers across the world have been targeted by authoritarian governments using hacking software sold by a private Israeli surveillance company - NSO Group. 17 media organizations combined in the investigation including The Guardian, Radio France, Le Monde, Die Zeit, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Westdeutscher and Norddeutscher Rundfunk, Le Soir, The Washington Post, PBS Frontline, Haaretz and The Wire with information from Paris-based non profit media organization Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International. The investigation revealed a data leak of 50,000 phone numbers selected for surveillance by Pegasus, malware that infects iPhones and Android devices to extract messages, photos and emails, record calls, and secretly activate microphones. Phone numbers of more than 180 journalists were listed including reporters, editors and executives at the Financial Times, CNN, the New York Times, France 24, the Economist, Associated Press and Reuters. Surveillance company NSO, closely regulated by the Israeli ministry of defence, says it sells the software only to vetted government customers – military, law enforcement and intelligence agencies in 40 countries – for anti-terrorism and crime purposes. AEJ open letter AEJ on misuse by governments and criminals Pegasus revelations BBC Radio 4 Media Show on Pegasus Forbidden Stories Amnesty on Pegasus Israel launches investigation New York Times PBS on Pegasus Pegasus Wikipedia SLAPP laws Warnings on further Belarus media crackdown Journalists have warned of the most recent action by the Belarus government of President Alexander Lukashenko to suppress media freedom. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)) has condemned an attempt to liquidate the country’s only independent journalists’ group, the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ). The Belarus justice ministry asked the country’s Supreme Court to close the only professional journalists body in Belarus defending free and independent journalism and a mainstay of resistance to the government’s continuing crackdown on independent media and civil society voices in the wake of last year’s presidential election, widely considered to have been rigged by Lukashenko. The justice ministry claimed the BAJ has ‘repeatedly violated the law’, although reports say that the allegations include technical infringements related to the leases on some of its offices. The BAJ has said it will fight to maintain its legal status. Police raided the association’s offices for the second time, sizing documents and equipment, sealing off its premises and freezing its bank accounts. Please see this background report from AEJ media freedom representative and AEJ UK chairman William Horsley. European Federation of Journalists warning AEJ helps reverse U.S. journalist visa plan The AEJ and major global media organisations have helped convince the U.S. government to withdraw a restrictive plan to limit the time foreign journalists and others could stay and work in the USA. AEJ media freedom representative and AEJ UK chairman William Horsley called it “a significant success for joint advocacy”. In October 2020 the AEJ joined 24 global media organisations in a European Broadcasting Union (EBU) appeal to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to drop the plan. The group said the changes – proposed while Donald Trump was still president - would put media freedom at risk and jeopardise the work of foreign media to provide accurate, unbiased news reporting for global audiences from the USA. U.S. Homeland Security proposed shorter visas - 240 days, with a possible extension of a maximum of another 240 days – but many foreign news organizations appoint correspondents for a number of years (commonly 2-5 years), allowing time for individual journalists to better understand the country and therefore better report on it to the rest of the world. The U.S. government notice withdrawing the plan said they received 32,000 comments on the proposal of which 99 percent were opposed. Comments from the vast majority who opposed the plan said it would place significant burdens and exorbitant costs on foreign students, exchange scholars, foreign media representatives, and U.S. employers and potentially interrupt and delay their work or study – aside from being unnecessary to protect U.S. immigration policy. Dutch reporter shot Dutch crime reporter Peter R. de Vries, one of the Netherlands’ best known journalists, was shot and seriously injured on July 6 evening in a street in downtown Amsterdam minutes after leaving the studios of RTL TV. He died 9 days later after reportedly being shot five times at close range, including once in the head. De Vries has been the target of numerous death threats during his long career in connection with his exceptional record of exposing the activities of organised crime in the Netherlands. The BBC reports that police chased and arrested two suspects on a motorway as they drove from the scene. The men were remanded in custody. The Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, called it a shocking attack on a courageous journalist and on “the free press that is critical to our democracy”. Reacting on social media, European Commission Vera Jourova called it an attack on freedom of the press and democracy, and said those responsible must be brought to justice. Peter de Vries has an almost legendary reputation for covering high-profile crimes, including the kidnapping of beer magnate Freddy Heineken in 1983. The kidnapper, Willem Holleeder, one of the country’s most notorious gangsters, was later convicted of making threats against the journalist, and in 2019 he was sentenced to life imprisonment for his part in five murders. For more please see this from AEJ media freedom representative and AEJ UK chairman William Horsley. AEJ UK award winner AEJ UK treasurer David Worsfold has won Finance and Business Writer of the Year at the UK’s new Freelance Writing Awards. Launched in 2021, the awards are intended to celebrate and champion the best freelance writing talent in the UK. The organizers say they created them partly out of frustration with a lack of representation of freelancers in the media industry and to provide support after a particularly difficult year due to the covid pandemic which affected freelance writers particularly hard. They say freelance journalists are often left out of awards which can be important to their careers. So these awards were open only to freelancers who would not have support from a media company for such an award. Entries were judged on originality, unique freelance quality, expertise and the context of the work submitted. A turning point for media freedom in Europe? A major conference of European media ministers has highlighted the actions of European governments accused of persecuting journalists. Council of Europe ministers responsible for media called on the Council’s top decision-making body to implement comprehensive plans for preventing, investigating and sanctioning threats against journalists’ safety in the final declaration of their meetings in Cyprus on June 10 and 11. But while the ministerial conference on Media and Democracy shone a rare spotlight on European governments’ actions affecting media freedom, William Horsley, AEJ media freedom representative, asks if it really will mark a turning-point for better protections for journalism and the safety of journalists? Even as the first such major conference in 8 years ended, Russia disrupted the European show of unity as it objected to a key Council of Europe mechanism for protecting media freedom, the CoE Platform for the protection of journalism and the safety of journalists. The Russian delegation declared its opposition to the Platform’s work in an “interpretive statement” and also expressed its wider disagreement with significant parts of the Council of Europe’s strategy for reversing the decline in the safety of journalists. For more please see this report from William Horsley and here for the conference documents. Belarus faces international outrage over plane arrest The forced landing of a Ryanair passenger jet and arrest of a prominent opposition journalist in Belarus on May 23 sparked international outrage and condemnation. Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary described the action as “state sponsored hijacking”. AEJ Media Freedom Representative William Horsley reports here on the British and international condemnation - British foreign secretary Dominic Raab told British carriers not to fly through Belarusian airspace and suspended operations to the UK by the Belarusian airline Belavia. The European Union followed suit along with further sanctions. The dramatic developments unfolded like an international thriller novel. Belarus state media said President Alexander Lukashenko personally ordered a fighter jet scrambled and the country’s air traffic control to force the passenger plane to land in Minsk as it flew briefly in Belarusian airspace on a flight from Athens to Vilnius in Lithuania. Belarus claimed there was a bomb threat and on the ground arrested journalist Roman Protasevich, co-founder and former editor of Nexta, a channel of online messaging app Telegram. They also arrested his girlfriend and three other people. The EU faces difficulty in taking effective action and both Europe and Russia in particular will need to examine just why Lukashenko took such action and its impact. For more on the ongoing struggle in Belarus please see here. Jonathan Fryer 1950-2021 It was with great sadness we noted the death of Jonathan Fryer, long-time AEJ UK member, journalist, broadcaster, author and active Liberal Democrat. Jonathan died peacefully at an east London hospice on April 16 after being diagnosed with a terminal condition less than a month earlier. With the Liberal Democrats he was most recently chair of the party’s Federal International Relations Committee and a major contributor to its international work for many years. As a journalist he worked for Reuters and the BBC World Service as well as writing for The Guardian and other publications and broadcasters. As a colleague and friend to many in the AEJ and others in multiple other fields he will be greatly missed. Please see here for more. Council of Europe warns of democratic backsliding The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Marija Pejčinović Burić, has issued a stark warning that the increase in violence against journalists demonstrates “a worrying degree of democratic backsliding” and endangers Europe’s “democratic culture”. AEJ media freedom representative and AEJ UK chairman William Horsley has this report. World Press Freedom Day 2021 Marking World Press Freedom Day 2021 on May 3, the secretarys general of both the United Nations and the Council of Europe called for urgent action to stop threats to media freedom. AEJ UK chairman and AEJ international media freedom representative William Horsley has this commentary - The Media Freedom Fightback Gets Stronger. UN Secretary-General António Guterres said the coronavirus pandemic and its severe impact on media revenues could lead to a “media extinction event”. The Council of Europe Secretary General Marija Pejčinović Burić expressed concern about attacks on journalists and limitations to press freedom in many parts of Europe in a joint statement with Germany’s federal minister of justice and consumer protection, Christine Lambrecht, representing the German presidency of the Council of Europe’s committee of ministers. Earlier Ms. Pejčinović Burić urged European governments to show stronger political will to protect journalists and independent journalism as she marked the release of the its annual report on media freedom of the Council of Europe Platform for the protection and safety of journalists. AEJ UK chairman and AEJ international media freedom representative William Horsley contributed a personal message of support for editor and journalist Maria Ressa in the Philippines as part of an innovative and unprecedented global solidarity campaign led by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the #HoldTheLine coalition. Their website features hundreds of videos from prominent supporters around the world - with a call for public contributions - that will stream on a continuous loop until all charges are dropped against Ressa and the media outlet Rappler she founded. Ressa faces 6 years in prison in the Philippines. She was named Time magazine’s Person of the Year in 2018 and won this year’s UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize. This year marks exactly 30 years since the landmark “Windhoek Declaration” when African journalists set out three key demands – for media freedom, media independence and media pluralism - that laid the foundation for a United Nations global campaign proclaiming the date as World Press Freedom Day. Then, South Africa’s apartheid regime was crumbling and the Cold War was becoming history in Europe. This year, World Press Freedom Day is hosted in Namibia and key themes include the survival of independent and local media, enforcing the responsibilities of internet giants, and public media literacy in the face of the “disinfodemic” and persecution of journalists through anti-media “fake news” laws. AEJ Hungary defends media independence The AEJ Hungarian Section marked World Press Freedom Day with a broadside against the government’s attempts to stifle media independence and a fresh call for the European Union to use stronger means to counteract the hostile propaganda of Hungary’s pro-government media. Media Freedom Report 2021 The 2021 annual report on media freedom by the Council of Europe platform for the protection and safety of journalists notes a strong rise in reports of violence against journalists as well as censorship and reprisals for questioning government policies. At the same time, quality media face serious economic challenges and many journalists have lost their jobs due to the pandemic. The report says extraordinary damage was inflicted on free and independent journalism in 2020 as governments across Europe adopted emergency laws and regulations in response to the Covid-19 pandemic that also imposed extraordinary restrictions on journalists’ activities. It says these represent arbitrary interferences in the legitimate work of journalists and news organisations and place excessive limitations on the fundamental rights of people across Europe to enjoy access to uncensored information freely and from diverse sources. The Council of Europe platform for the protection and safety of journalists joins the AEJ and 13 other journalistic and NGO partner organisations in a Europe-wide “rapid response mechanism” to issue real-time online media freedom alerts. The AEJ, Article 19, the Committee to Protect Journalists, the European Federation of Journalists and the International Press Institute form the core editorial team for the report which is the collective work of all 14 partner organisations. Please see here for the full report and here for the press conference marking the launch. Hungarian media attack on Austrian journalist The Council of Europe Platform for the protection and safety of journalists has followed the AEJ and other media freedom groups in condemning the Hungarian government for a serious attack on media freedom. The COE Platform has issued an alert about a Hungarian state television broadcast which attacked an Austrian journalist for asking "provocative questions" and questioning her integrity and professionalism. The attack on prime time news prompted a protest from Austria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and a further attack in reply on social media by his Hungarian counterpart. The COE action is one of several recent alerts related to malicious verbal attacks and threats including ones in Bulgaria and Slovenia. Please see the AEJ International website for more. Shocking murder of Athens journalist The killing of prominent Greek crime reporter Giorgos Karaivaz in Athens on April 9 highlights fears that investigative journalists in Europe face growingly more dangerous conditions because of increased hostility to the media from both state and non-state actors. The AEJ’s media freedom representative and AEJ UK chairman, William Horsley, called on the Greek authorities to “conduct an urgent, independent and effective investigation and bring the killers of Giorgos Karaivaz to justice to prevent a further erosion of public trust." Karaivaz was a veteran of crime reporting who had worked for various Greek newspapers and broadcasters. For more please see this alert on the Council of Europe platform to promote the protection of journalism and safety of journalists and the AEJ International website. Justice for Daphne? There may be a possible glimmer of hope for justice in the killing of Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. One of three previously accused men, Vincent Muscat – believed to have been the hitman - has been sentenced to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty in a plea bargain deal. On the same day, Feb.23 2021, police arrested three new suspects - two of them have been charged with supplying the car bomb in Caruana Galizia’s assassination in October 2017. Her son Matthew told the AEJ: “What has happened is a step from no to partial justice. The homicide squad has done a good job, but there are severe problems with Malta’s capacity to fight corruption.” Police claimed all suspects in the case have now been arrested but it’s widely suspected that Caruana Galizia’s assassination involved both organized crime and members of Malta’s elite. Her blog uncovering political corruption in Malta earned her a reputation as a one-woman WikiLeaks. And her murder mired Malta’s ruling Labour party in political scandal. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat resigned in 2019 over allegations that members of his administration had tried to sabotage the police investigation. AEJ President Saia Tsaousidou described the new arrests as “half-good news, but not more than that.” The International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) welcomed Muscat’s guilty plea and urged Malta’s authorities to continue to pursue others involved in her murder. The AEJ has worked consistently with other media freedom organizations to focus attention on the case of Daphne Caruana Galizia and AEJ media freedom representative William Horsley was instrumental in the publication of the last interview with her. CIA confirms Saudi prince approved assassination The United States has released a Central Intelligence Agency report saying Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohamed bin Sultan approved the assassination of Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The new U.S. President Joe Biden stopped short of imposing sanctions on the prince but did announce measures against other key Saudis involved in the brutal killing. The report’s release in early 2021 signals a recalibration of the U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia which rejected the report. The Crown Prince - profiled in this BBC Radio 4 program, de facto ruler of the country, and son and heir apparent to the king - has always denied a role in the murder. Jamal Khashoggi disappeared inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, on Oct.2 2018, was killed, and his body cut up. He was one of Saudi Arabia’s most prominent journalists, once an advisor to the country’s intelligence chief, but left in 2017 to the USA where he wrote a regular column for The Washington Post in which he criticised the direction of his country under Crown Prince Mohamed. Khashoggi’s murder turned a spotlight on the Saudi regime’s pivotal role in a number of key issues – the Yemen civil war, western arms sales to the Saudis, international terrorism, its actions as one of two key Western allies in the Middle East, and its financing and trade particularly in relation to the USA and western European countries. At the time the Association of European Journalists International joined the Journalist Support Committee (JSC) to call for justice and a full investigation into Khashoggi’s death. The AEJ and JSC called for disclosure of all information in the Turkish investigation and for a thorough, independent review of the human rights record of the Saudi authorities. They joined other journalist and human rights groups in their alarm as Saudi activists remain in jail. AEJ condemns attack on Kosovo investigative journalist The AEJ and other media freedom groups have condemned a targeted assault on investigative journalist Visar Duriqi in Kosovo. He was hospitalised with serious head and face injuries after the late-night ambush attack near his home. Duriqi had just made a TV appearance in which he accused public officials of corruption and abuse of their positions. The European Union’s office in the capital, Pristina, condemned the attack and declared that journalists must be allowed to carry out their work freely and safely. Big Tech, media freedom, and money The world’s tech information giants remain in the spotlight as debate rages across the world over media freedom and money. Australia has passed the world’s first law aimed at making Google and Facebook pay news publishers for content on their platforms. It follows a major struggle with the tech giants in which Google threatened to pull its search engine from the entire country and Facebook actually did block Australians from viewing or sharing news. The law passed with amendments after tough negotiations and mixed consequences from the Facebook ban. Facebook and Google’s fight in Australia were not their first over payment for news and Australia is far from their largest market but the proposed law is seen as a potential global test case for how governments regulate big tech firms. Both Facebook and Google resisted the Australian plan because negotiating business deals would be subject to national rules and they would have less control over how much they would have to pay – but they took different approaches in their fight. Across the Pacific in the USA there were serious questions about the power of digital media giants and free speech after Twitter and Facebook shut down U.S. President Donald Trump’s accounts. Honorary AEJ member and veteran American journalist and columnist Llewellyn King examines issues of media freedom and free speech in the wake of actions by the tech giants. They shut down Trump’s accounts after he encouraged protests that turned violent at the Capitol building in his last days in office. What if these companies get politically activated in the future, King asks, while acknowledging that ex-President Trump deserved censure and the digital companies’ actions may not be wrong at a time of crisis. Quoting journalist and essayist H.L. Mencken in 1940 - “freedom of the press is limited to those who own one” - King says the current exercise of censor authority should alarm all free-speech advocates and is power that exceeds anything ever seen in media. For more on his call for a re-examination of current law and a larger discussion on all the issues of free speech on social media please see his column in the White House Chronicle and InsideSources. AEJ joins protests against jailing of Navalny The AEJ notes growing concerns about the health of jailed Russian Opposition leader Alexei Navalny. A report by AEJ secretary general Edward Steen follows strong protests from the AEJ against the jailing of Navalny as well as attacks on journalists covering protests in his support. The AEJ has joined the Committee to Protect Journalists, Article 19 and Reporters Sans Frontieres in recording and protesting against a record wave of arrests, attacks and criminal cases against journalists. The London-based Justice for Journalists organisation reported nearly 400 attacks on Russian media workers and their families in the last few weeks of January. The Council of Europe has issued a formal media freedom alert on the Europe-wide platform for the safety of journalists. At the time former AEJ president Otmar Lahodynsky said the sentencing of Navalny for 3½ years in a penal colony was “a grotesque infringement of elementary human rights.” Lahodynsky said there had been no investigation into the poison-attack on Navalny in August 2020 and called for sanctions by the EU. And the man who helped evacuate Navalny from Russia says his sentencing “suggests Russia under Vladimir Putin is on an unstoppable shift back to the old authoritarian ways of the Soviet Union” – in a guest commentary on the AEJ International website. Jaka Bizilj is the founder of the Cinema for Peace Initiative and flew with Navalny to Berlin in a private plane on August 22 2020 at the request of Pussy Riot in a humanitarian gesture supported by the German government and the Presidents of France and Finland. Hungary’s Klubrádió in jeopardy The AEJ Hungary has called for Europe-wide support for Klubrádió, one of the last independent radio stations in Hungary. A Hungarian court has confirmed a decision by the government-controlled Media Council to deny Klubrádió’s broadcasting license from February 15 although the station still plans to broadcast on the internet at https://www.klubradio.hu/ The AEJ Hungary said the government’s intention was to reduce voices and programs independent and critical of the government less than a year before planned elections and called for solidarity and support as the station appealed to Hungary’s Supreme Court. The president of Klubrádió described the lower court decision as “shameful” and the removal of its licence as “illegal”. Will Europe defend journalists at risk today? As journalists in Turkey face continuing pressure from the government many marked the anniversary of the murder of renowned Turkish investigative journalist Ugur Mumcu. Killed in a car bomb explosion on 24 January 1993, he defined journalism as the medium that “talks about struggles in all areas of life”. AEJ UK chairman and international media freedom representative William Horsley writes that those words still ring true today as the struggle for survival of independent media across the world has grown more acute and many political leaders want to transform the role of the media from that of a public watchdog that holds power to account into propaganda weapons for their own advantage. The AEJ joined a mission to Turkey with 10 other international media freedom, journalism and human rights groups in October to warn of a growing crisis for freedom of expression in Turkey. Belarus standoff The Association of European Journalists has called for the release of Belarusian journalist Andrei Aliaksandrau and eight others held in jail in connection with their reporting of public protests against the government. Aliaksandrau, detained since January 12 2021, is a long-time associate of the AEJ, was a deputy chairman of the Belarusian Association of Journalists from 2009 to 2012, and is the founder and chief editor of the news website Belarus Journal. In November 2020 the Belarus Association of Journalists was awarded the prestigious Media Freedom Award from the Global Media Freedom Coalition, now made up of over 40 countries, that was established in 2019 by the UK and Canada. The award citation recognised the BAJ for its commitment to covering human rights and election fraud in the face of violence and threats. The AEJ previously called for a strong, concerted international response against violent suppression of free media in Belarus, saying on September 3 that the Belarusian authorities’ violent suppression of free media, targeted attacks against journalists, and the denial of accreditations and deportations of large numbers of journalists were aimed at preventing journalists from reporting on legitimate protests against alleged election fraud and other government abuses. Hundreds of journalists have been arrested in Belarus in a harsh crackdown by the government of President Alexander Lukashenko on mass protests that have continued weekly for five months against August elections widely considered as rigged. The European Union has not recognised the legality of the elections, saying they were “not free and fair” and an investigation supported by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe found massive and systemic violations of basic rights before and after the poll. On January 18 the International Ice Hockey Federation stripped Belarus of its right to co-host this year’s world championships, a slap to avid hockey fan Lukashenko. For some time Lukashenko has been stuck in an ongoing power standoff with opposition protesters. His state media said on December 31 he will hold a referendum on his suggested constitutional reforms and has called a congress of his supporters in February. At the same time reports surfaced that neighbouring Russia plans to launch a pro-Russia party in the Belarus borderland between it and the EU. Russia has kept a low profile amid much reporting about its plans – ranging from speculation about losing patience with Lukashenko through opposition hopes for support from new U.S. President Joe Biden, along with earlier analysis of Vladimir Putin’s options from the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations, the Washington Post-owned Foreign Policy, and even from inside Russia in the Moscow-based English language Moscow Times. Please see more on Belarus. Journalism in the age of Covid There has been concern for most of the last year about growing pressures on journalists and politicians of all stripes using the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse to control reporting and suppress information. For an update on this – reported here on the AEJ UK website earlier this year – please see this update and round up from Brussels Morning. Quicker justice for journalists The AEJ has formally endorsed an authoritative legal report calling for an international task force to ensure effective investigations into violent attacks and abuses against journalists. The report by 15 leading international lawyers calls for creation of a new International Investigative Task Force to ensure effective investigations into violent attacks and abuses against journalists. It was launched on November 25 by the independent High Level Legal Panel supporting the Global Media Freedom Coalition made up of some 40 UN member states. The task force of forensic and legal experts is intended to act with strong political backing with a mandate to strengthen existing UN mechanisms to bring to justice perpetrators of acts such as the assassination of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in a car bomb attack in 2017, and the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018. How journalists handle political pressure and threats AEJ UK chairman William Horsley has addressed the Council of Europe committee on media and information society about the extraordinary experiences, persecution and courageous work of 20 frontline journalists across Europe detailed in a new book he has co-authored. Along with co-author Marilyn Clark, associate professor of psychology at the University of Malta, the writers hope to provide a new rationale and impetus for protecting journalists more effectively from physical and legal attacks, exclusion and online harassment, and the impact of climates of impunity when journalists are attacked or murdered. The book “A Mission to Inform: Journalists at risk speak out” was launched on October 14 coinciding with the third anniversary of the death of Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. It includes the last interview she gave, available here – only 10 days before she was killed while reporting on corruption issues. On the anniversary of her death on October 16 2017, the AEJ added its voice to 19 other organisations supporting journalists, international free expression, anti-corruption, and civic participation in demanding an end to impunity from prosecution for the attack. The new book is based on “in-depth interviews with 20 journalists from 18 different countries selected for their experience and skill in reporting in the public interest and exposing injustice and abuses. Each … shared their insights into the realities of doing cutting-edge journalism to bring the truth to light; they spoke about their first-hand experience of threats, hostility and intimidation, surveillance and cyberattacks, and about self-censorship, resilience and coping strategies, as well as about what they portray as routine failures by state authorities to give journalists the protection they need to fulfil their public watchdog role.” It is published by the Council of Europe and the foreword by the COE’s Director General of Human Rights and Rule of Law notes that journalists across member states face various forms of pressure and intimidation meant to silence and hinder their ‘mission to inform’ - “worrying given that democratic societies can only function if media actors can report on matters of public interest without interference and without fear”. The COE notes that the book is a follow up to a study in 2017 involving nearly 1000 questionnaires answered by journalists which revealed grave statistics concerning the risks they faced. “A Mission to Inform: Journalists at risk speak out” is aimed at analysing how journalists responded to pressures exerted on them and what solutions they found to overcome fear and continue being able to fulfil their public watchdog mission. Fake news updates Two key characters in the ongoing fake news saga of the last few years now face forms of justice. In the UK, Alexander Nix the former head of Cambridge Analytica has been banned from running any limited liability company for seven years. And in the USA, right-wing promoter and former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon has been charged with fraud. The Cambridge Analytica story first looked like a plotline straight out of the U.S. TV series Homeland – allegations of an illegal data grab used to manipulate national votes in both the U.S. presidential election and the UK referendum on leaving the European Union. But it was life once again imitating art – sparked by an investigative report published in mid-March 2018 by The Observer newspaper and shared with the UK’s Channel 4 television and the New York Times. For more please see here. See here for more news

About the AEJ
The AEJ is an independent network of journalists, writers and specialists active across Europe, a Europe wide network of national sections with the goal of advancing knowledge and debate on European affairs and upholding media freedom. In the UK we host regular meetings for journalists providing a forum for open-minded exchanges with public figures of all backgrounds to promote informed debate on European and international affairs. Our lunchtime meetings are open to bona fide journalists and visiting members of other AEJ sections; an entry fee must be paid to cover the costs of food and drink and pre-registration is essential. Journalists, writers and specialists in European affairs may also apply to join the Association of European Journalists – please see here for more about the benefits of membership or contact the AEJ UK Secretary.
We are independent of any institutional or political group and are recognised by the Council of Europe, the OSCE and UNESCO.

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