The Balkans home to nearly half of media freedom violations in Europe

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9 July 2014

(Marzia/flickr)

Since its launch at the end of May, over 170 cases have been submitted on the Ushahidi crowd-sourcing platform promoted
by Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso and Index on Censorship

Over 170 cases have been submitted on a new media freedom crowdsourcing platform since its launch at the end of May, while about half of the mapped cases of censorship and violations that spread across all 28 EU member states and candidate countries occurred in South-east Europe, Turkey and Italy.

Mediafreedom.ushahidi.com is a website that enables media professionals and citizen journalists to report and map media freedom violations across 33 European countries. Ushahidi means 'testimony' in Swahili. Single cases can be uploaded online through direct reporting on the platform or sent via email, and get visualised on a Google map.

Information collected on the map reveal some common trends and similar problems across the region.

Over 40 of the reported cases involve legal measures taken against a journalist or a media, suggesting the pressing need for legal support and protection of those affected. Despite the existence of several associations and NGOs offering such support, journalists often fail to get the help they need on time, if ever.

Meanwhile arrests, physical and verbal attacks continue to be used as a tool to scare or discredit professionals. In some cases, journalists are detained on the field without clear explanation or warrant, only to be released several hours later, when they can no longer report the event they originally intended.

A high concentration of violations is observed in Turkey, Italy and Serbia.

In Turkey, where 17 cases have been reported, financial and legal pressure seems to be one of the main tools used to silence critical voices.

In Serbia, where 16 cases have been reported, last May's devastating floods unleashed a series of worrying developments that made the international and local community turn their eyes towards the state of media freedom and spreading censorship in the country. For instance, several blogs experienced blockades and attacks after criticizing the government's role and reaction to the floods.

In Italy 15 cases have been reported, with many involving threats and assaults.

The Ushahidi media freedom crowd-sourcing platform is developed in partnership by Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso and Index on Censorship. OBC participates in the initiative as part of the EU-funded Safety Net for European Journalists project, implemented in partnership with SEEMO, Ossigeno Informazione, Professor Eugenia Siapera (Dublin City University).

This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso and its partners and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union. The project's page: Safety Net for European Journalists.A Transnational Support Network for Media Freedom in Italy and South-east Europe.