Freedom of the press

At least 274 journalists have been jailed around the work this year in connection with their work - a new record high - said an annual survey published on Tuesday by the Committee to Protect Journalists, CPJ found.

When a journalist is arrested at a protest, the free and fair gathering of the news is arrested, too.

The freedom of press is the guarantee of any functional democracy wherein citizens must be properly and timely informed, reads a message by the Foreign Affairs Ministry (MAE) on the World Press Freedom Day, sent on Sunday to AGERPRES.

Today, it is more important than ever for journalists to be able to work freely and accurately to combat misinformation and to provide citizens with access to vital information. This was stated by a European Commission spokesman at a press conference in response to a question related to Reporters Without Borders' annual media freedom ranking.

Albanian journalists and cameramen reporting about COVID-19 Pandemics in Tirana, on 30 March 2020. Photo: LSA

The Centre for Independent Journalism, CJI, an NGO that promotes media freedom and good practices in journalism, has raised concern that provisions enacted as part of the state of emergency to combat the spread of the coronavirus in Romania could hamper journalists' ability to inform the public.

At the meeting they held at 2 Dondukov street, Head of State Rumen Radev and Christophe Deloire, Secretary General of "Reporters Without Borders" discussed the state of the media environment in Bulgaria, the public trust in the media, the professional standards in journalism, the models of funding the Bulgarian media and the approaches to defending the independence of the editorial policy.

Journalists gathered on Monday in the Bosnian capital to demand an end to violence against reporters, two days after the news website Radiosarajevo.ba reported that group of hooligans had forced their way into their office and threatened journalists into retracting an article.

Montenegro's Court of Appeal said on Thursday that it will respond within a month to Jovan Martinovic's appeal against his 18-month prison sentence, which has been described by media campaign groups as a blow to journalistic freedom in the country.

And when, in February 2018, the country was convulsed by the first murder of a journalist in independent Slovakia, protesters again came out in defence of independent journalism and against the cosy ties between business, crime and politics that made the killing possible.