Media freedom is declining across the EU and “perilously close to breaking point” in several countries, a leading civil liberties network has said, highlighting widespread threats against journalists and attacks on the independence of public broadcasters.
Europe’s media landscape continued to be marked last year by heavy concentration of media ownership, inadequate rules on ownership transparency, and numerous threats to the independence and finances of public media, Liberties said.
Ah, that middle one. Press freedom apparently doesn’t mean just anyone gets to stand up and say. Only the right people, right?
“Much will depend on national governments and authorities, but the act means cases can now be brought before a European court that will rule on what media independence, surveillance of journalists and so on really mean,” she said.
European courts promote freedom, do they?
Now do GB News.
I am amazed by how few people see the noose that is slowly being tightened.
Even the Americans are getting their knickers in a twist about TikTok being Chinese-owned. So much for the land of free speech.
a European court that will rule on what media independence, surveillance of journalists and so on really mean,
Anything it wants them to mean is the usual modus operandi In the European Court. And shouldn’t be confused with justice, media independence or the freedom of journalists from surveillance.
Interested/BiS
https://www.eugyppius.com/p/leading-german-politician-calls-for
“Voigt, meanwhile, is a leading politician for the officially “democratic” Christian Democratic Union (you know they are democratic because the word is in their name), and he’s actually dreaming of requiring Germans to obtain state-issued licenses for permission to post their thoughts to the internet.”
Drip drip… VPNs will inevitably become routine (for us, and with the web sites physically located in other jurisdictions).
One is reminded of the heroic Australian government that has ordered Musk to not only censor videos of the stabbing of bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel in Oz, but throughout the entire world. The argument is evidently that the awful Aussies will get VPN’s and look at this dreadful stuff in the US if he doesn’t wipe it out there as well.
Of course eSafety could just make VPN’s illegal. But this would mean they’d have to fight and piss off a large number of voters, instead of them being deprived of their free speech by the evil global capitalist.
Evil should always be done by the evil. That’s why they exist.
How do you make VPNs illegal? They’re used *everywhere*, all over the business world for starters?
How do you make VPNs illegal?
Ask China. The CCP has done it.
asiaseen
Ah, I see. Well, if one is going to shut down the western business model, then yes, but at that point internet censorship may be the least of our problems… 🙂
asiaseen
Curious as much as anything, and don’t really have time to properly explore it at the moment, but it appears businesses (including employees), individuals and ex-pats etc can (and for all intents and purposes still do) easily access VPNs from China? For later at some stage but it would be bizarre if foreign businesses were not able to use them (widely) for secure internal business communications? And once that bridge is crossed in principle….
This is funny, bureaucrats and politicians thought the people really were desperate to get away from Musk and the like:
“ Elon has nothing on the bureaucrats. The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) is shutting down in two weeks their unused “alternative social media platforms that prioritise individuals and their rights to privacy and data protection”. That includes the Twitter clone “EU Voice” and “EU Video”, a YouTube alternative. The latest exhilarating clip there – “EU Coast Guard Cooperation: Online Platform & Exchange Programme” – has 19 views after a week…
The EU’s Twitter clone has 18 active accounts – despite at least 40 EU bodies being told to use it when it kicked off. That’s privacy of a kind…”
https://order-order.com/2024/04/29/eu-shutting-down-own-social-media-platform/
Hands up anyone who knew it existed, let alone tried it.
It’s a shame I’ve only just found out about it, it would have been fun telling FBPE types and others who complained about Musk they could fuck off to their own safe space.
Surely freedom of speech and freedom of the press is all about free of government interference? Governments throughout the world and throughout history have been a much bigger enemy of press freedom than any real or imagined ownership concentration.