In 2023, press freedom was again a canary in the coal mine for Europe. Although the year saw a decrease in the number of journalists murdered and violence against the press during street protests, alerts published on the Platform for the Safety of Journalists show a growing diversity of threats, pressures and constraints on journalists in carrying out their work, according to the 2024 annual report of the partner organisations of the Council of Europe’s Platform to Strengthen the Protection of Journalism and the Safety of Journalists.
Published under the title “Press Freedom in Europe: Time to Turn the Tide”, the report assesses the main obstacles to press freedom in Europe, highlights the threat posed by criminal organisations and the denigration of the media by political figures, presents the so-called systemic threats and also includes an analysis of the social and economic insecurity affecting journalists.
The report also makes recommendations to the Council of Europe, the EU and their member States: a reminder of the essential link between independent media and free and fair elections, the issues of monitoring and humanitarian visas, and the need for member States to take the Platform’s warnings seriously and provide concrete responses to the shortcomings revealed.
As it does every year, Cartooning for Peace illustrated the report with some fifteen drawings from its cartoon library: Hassan (Iran), Murphy (Ireland), Bénédicte (Switzerland), Vadot (Belgium), Carrilho (Portugal), Côté (Canada), Meddy (Tanzania), Pakman (France), Semih Poroy (Turkiye), Urbs (France), Firuz Kutal (Türkiye), Adene (France), Kazanevsky (Ukraine), Zach (Philippines), Sherif Arafa (Egypt), Osama Hajjaj (Jordan), Boligán (Mexico), Karry (Peru).
This year, Cartooning for Peace has also been invited to contribute to the report with a text by Kak, President of the organisation, presenting the situation of press cartoonists under threat around the world and the report published in 2023 “Cartoonists on the line” (pp. 37-39).
✏️Special thanks go to @CartooningPeace & its cartoonists for their excellent illustration of the Platform partners’ 2024 report!
👀Discover all the cartoons in the report:
🇬🇧 https://t.co/Mok3tFvjDf
🇫🇷 https://t.co/uw9RgpcFLF#EuropeForFreeMedia
Cartoon: Adene pic.twitter.com/fS9SZqqJtC— Council of Europe Media Freedom (@CoEMediaFreedom) March 8, 2024
The Council of Europe Platform to Strengthen the Protection of Journalism and the Safety of Journalists was set up in 2015 in cooperation with journalists’ organisations and leading international NGOs working to defend freedom of expression. Its aim is to improve the protection of journalists and better respond to threats and violence against media professionals in Europe. The Platform facilitates the dissemination of information on serious threats to media freedom in order to strengthen the Council of Europe’s response capacity and the responsibility of member States. The Platform enables the Council of Europe to be alerted to such threats in a timely and systematic manner, and to take coordinated and rapid action when necessary.
Cartoon: Karry (Peru)
