The European Union and its Member States face significant foreign interference in politics and democracy, where legislative and policy gaps are increasingly exploited. To combat malign influences, the bloc must step up action and get beyond policy.

This was the common call expressed by participants during a recent Euractiv virtual conference on threats to media freedom in Europe and ways to protect it in an ever-polarised society which trusts the media less and less.

“This is a global fight. Democracy cannot be taken for granted. The EU must look at countries that are facing malign influences from Russia and understand that these hybrid attacks are spreading in the EU as well,” Georgian journalist Katie Shoshiashvili told the panel.

“Not everything can catch up in the form of policy. Understanding how rapidly and in what shape things develop is something that European countries should be considering with countries like Georgia,” she remarked.

The country’s law “on transparency of foreign influence”, approved earlier in the year, was met with serious criticism. The Council of Europe’s Venice Commission recommended repealing the law, as it involves “significant negative consequences”.

The OSCE/ODIHR dubbed the law “incompatible” with democratic standards and human rights law, as Georgia is part of the organisation. It called on authorities to revoke the law and take steps to bring its legislation in line with international standards.

According to the law, nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) and media outlets that receive more than 20 per cent of their funding from foreign sources must register as organisations “pursuing the interest of a foreign power”.

Joining the dark side

Analysing why some individuals among journalists choose to “cross over to the dark side” and become tools in the hands of those who finance the spread of disinformation to exert their malign influence, MEP Sergey Lagodinsky called it an “issue of internal principles and ethics”.

“It is not just a matter of financing, it is also a matter of structures and having something like a joint strat-com or journalistic hubs with our Eastern Neighbourhood partners to mitigate these attacks,” he suggested to strengthen cooperation in this area of mutual interest.

Lagodinsky also noted a stark difference in the “problematic” role that public media plays in the Eastern European countries as opposed to the EU, where it is often seen as “the last hope for free, balanced journalism”.

“It is extremely important to provide a financial basis for those journalists who, otherwise, don’t have any other choice than to join the dark side of the media landscape. They need another option,” he continued.

Lagodinsky said the EU has the financial tools to make an offer that journalists could not resist so that they would work with a better “journalistic consciousness” and feel like they are doing the “right thing”.

Regulation and solutions

Discussing what could help make European journalism more robust, Sofia Karttunen from DG Connect mentioned Article 4 of the Media Freedom Act, which contains certain safeguards for media service providers and journalists.

Karttunen explained that member states are obliged to ensure the protection of journalistic sources and confidential communications. Some rules ask member states to make sure that the European Public Service Media has adequate, sustainable and predictable financial resources.

With the new act, media service providers must be transparent – although to a limited extent – about their ownership structure, with an obligation to take measures to guarantee editorial decisions, independence and freedom.

“This is not only about money. We can support journalists with training, money, etc., but it’s about their safety, life, the self-censorship position in which they are put in some countries,” EDMO Secretary-General Paula Gori added to the discussion.

She mentioned strengthening societal resilience with media literacy, supporting independent fact-checking, and investing in research to understand and successfully tackle the issue of disinformation and malign influences.

“Disinformers usually play with our negative emotions,” Gori said, explaining that a big percentage of the population is “frustrated, angry and not living the life they expected”, making them the “perfect target” for disinformers.

“Media literacy is a lifelong process,” Gori also stated, highlighting the need to implement initiatives even beyond schools. However, she concluded that coming up with strategies that have an impact is not an easy job.

[Edited By Brian Maguire | Euractiv’s Advocacy Lab ]

Source: Euractiv.com