Freedom of expression

The board of the Albanian Public Broadcaster has failed to appoint a new director, avoiding the vote on Wednesday when the topic was excluded from the formal meeting agenda.

RTSH, which is financed by Albanian taxpayers, failed to appoint a top manager after three previous attempts failed in the last four years.

In 1927 in the United States, Judge Louis Brandeis wrote a legendary dissenting vote. It was about freedom, freedom of speech and irrational fears. 

Hungarian law enforcement authorities "must stop threatening and obstructing the work of journalists reporting on the refugee crisis."

This statement was made by OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatovic on Thursday.

Dunja Mijatovic, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, said told a conference in Belgrade on media freedom organised by Newsweek Serbia that the "situation in Western Balkan journalism is worrying".

Bulgaria occupies the 41st position in the latest edition of the Human Freedom Index - a global measurement of personal, civil and economic freedom ranking 152 countries on a scale from 0 to 10, where 10 represents more freedom.

Bulgaria had a freedom index of 7.8 in 2012, with a personal freedom of 8.21 and economic freedom measuring 7.39.

OSCE's representative on freedom of the media has reacted to a recent attack on a journalist by a law enforcement officer in Nis, Serbia.

In a statement issued by the organization on Tuesday, Dunja Mijatovic said the incident was unacceptable and must be investigated swiftly and thoroughly.

Freedom of the media and freedom of expression "call for tireless efforts of the state, NGO sector, media and citizens."

That is what officials stated at a gathering on Monday dubbed, "Freedom of expression, media freedom and (auto) censorship in OSCE countries."

The OSCE’s Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatovic, said the new code of ethics should improve media standards - and called for more unity among the country's polarised journalists.

OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatovic has welcomed the new draft Code of Ethics for Montenegrin journalists.

The OSCE said in a statement that Mijatovic was speaking at the end of her two-day visit to Montenegro.

A report adopted by the Council of Europe (CoE) on June 24 says media transparency should be promoted, stressing the importance of freedom of expression and media pluralism for a functioning democracy.