The AEJ joined 14 other partner organisations of the Council of Europe’s Platform for the Safety of Journalists on 5 March 2025 to urge the Council of Europe, the European Union, and their member states to address critical media freedom and democratic issues such as intimidation, disinformation, and surveillance.
The Platform’s latest annual report for 2024 – “Press Freedom in Europe: Confronting Political Pressure, Disinformation and Erosion of Media Independence” – specifically references the war in Ukraine: “the most pressing concern in 2024, as Ukrainian and international journalists risked their lives daily on the front lines.
“Media professionals, like other civilians across the country, endured the constant threat of Russian bombardments. The essential role of the media in covering conflicts was further challenged by press freedom violations amid the ongoing crisis in Gaza, the West Bank, and the wider Middle East.”
Although written in the weeks earlier, the report launch came days after an astonishing confrontation in the White House between Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. President Donald Trump with his vice president J.D. Vance; a day after Trump stopped all US military aid to Ukraine including intelligence information; increasing administration attacks, restrictions and pressure on major mainstream media; and a critical point for the ceasefire in Gaza where Israel continues to prevent reporting by foreign media.
This year’s report does note a similar level of alerts in 2024 about media freedom in Council of Europe member states, Russia and Belarus on the Safety of Journalists Platform – 266 alerts – “consistent with the previous year but significantly above pre-COVID levels”.
“These alerts spanned physical attacks, intimidation, detention, impunity, and other restrictive actions. In 2024, the Platform introduced a new category: systemic obstacles to media freedom. The first set of systemic alerts was issued in September regarding defamation laws and practices.”
It also notes:
- The growing influence of “illiberal and populist parties” in elections in Council of Europe member states, at the European level, and in the United States – adding: “These parties, often hostile to critical and public interest journalism, displayed this through derogatory rhetoric, legal constraints on media, and regulatory interference that undermined public service broadcasters.”
- “extensive abuses, highlighting the urgent need for wide-ranging legislative and practical reforms” within Europe.
- some progress in Europe on SLAPPS (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) and legal challenges that have “fostered a more favourable environment for protecting press freedom and ensuring journalists’ safety” although “implementation at the national level remains inconsistent and, in many cases, has yet to commence”.
- a growing threat to journalists’ safety and source confidentiality from spyware that remains pervasive and difficult to detect.
- a growing threat of transnational repression “with exiled journalists increasingly facing surveillance, harassment, and intimidation from their home countries” with documented cases of journalists in exile targeted through digital surveillance, threats to family members, and legal action designed to force their silence, as well as misuse of international legal instruments like Interpol ‘red notices’, undermining press freedom globally. The Platform partners have called for urgent reforms to address these abuses and ensure that host countries provide adequate protections, including expedited asylum processes and enhanced security measures for at-risk journalists.
It did note that “efforts to combat transnational repression also gained traction, with increasing recognition of the need for international mechanisms to protect exiled journalists”. - a number of other ongoing issues such as state and political party control over media;
the importance of public service media in maintaining public trust in media institutions and ensuring the sustainability of pluralistic and independent media;
and technological advances such as AI that have introduced new risks to media freedom through disinformation campaigns, deepfake videos, and automated harassment.
The Platform report also says:
“While 2024 highlighted pressing challenges to press freedom, it also demonstrated resilience and collective action. Advocacy efforts, legal reforms, and international cooperation offer hope for sustaining independent journalism.”
To reinforce that, the report makes a number of recommendations to the Council of Europe, the European Union, and their member states to address critical issues.
It calls on the Council of Europe to:
- promote effective implementation of the anti-SLAPP Recommendation.
- encourage swift and full responses to alerts on the Safety of Journalists Platform and effective remedial actions by states against abuses of press freedom.
- mobilise political support for the ‘Journalists Matter’ campaign to advance policies and laws that protect journalists and uphold media independence.
- ensure that states fulfil their commitments to safeguards in existing Council of Europe recommendations for the independence and adequate funding of public broadcasters.
- increase pressure on member states to protect journalists from abusive surveillance and align national legal frameworks and procedures with all relevant international standards to guarantee judicial independence and effective oversight.
For the European Commission to:
- support transposition of the anti-SLAPP Directive into national laws.
- investigate member states violating the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) and initiate infringement proceedings where necessary.
- hold very large online platforms (VLOPs) legally responsible for putting in place effective measures to protect journalists’ rights, including redress for arbitrary content removal decisions as well as effective measures to deal with online harassment of journalists, in line with the Digital Services Act.
- improve use of the EU’s Rule of Law Report including by making its recommendations to member states more specific and actionable regarding press freedom and the protection of journalists and expand the report’s assessment to include a thorough evaluation of member states’ actions to improve journalist safety, relevant measures to address SLAPPs including the transposition of the Anti-SLAPP Directive, and the implementation of EMFA.
- review the Safety of Journalists Recommendation to strengthen member states’ efforts to improve the safety of journalists online and offline.
- prioritise action in support of EU media and information literacy, media pluralism, independent journalism and fact-checking networks, and ensure they are at the heart of the EU’s initiatives to combat disinformation.
For Council of Europe member states to:
- develop and implement National Action Plans for journalists’ safety and establish rapid response mechanisms against threats.
- establish specialised units within law enforcement and judiciary to prioritise cases involving attacks on journalists.
- align national defamation laws with European Court of Human Rights judgments, remove increased protection against defamation for public figures, end excessive penalties and custodial sentences for journalists, and make civil legal aid available to defendants.
- ensure robust legal protections for public service media, guaranteeing their editorial independence and stable funding, shielded from political influence and interference.
- counter online harassment by appropriate mechanisms and practical measures and support digital safety training for journalists.
- strengthen protections for journalists in exile, including safeguards against the misuse of Interpol ‘red notices’ and expedite ‘safe refuge’ and asylum processes.
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