02/05/2025 Culture, Science, Education and Media
On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day (3 May 2025), PACE’s General Rapporteur on media freedom and safety of journalists Valentina Grippo (Italy, ALDE) has reiterated the importance of press freedom and the safety of journalists as fundamental pillars of a genuine democracy, emphasising the urgent need to safeguard these values at all costs.
“Journalists must be able to work safely without fear or undue restrictions. Unfortunately, there is an increasing variety of threats, pressures and constraints under which journalists are carrying out their mission. In particular, I would like to highlight the growing threats to the protection of journalistic sources through increasingly sophisticated electronic surveillance tools,” the General Rapporteur pointed out.
"Another concerning issue is the practice of AI companies harvesting content from the internet without permission or a legal basis, and without remunerating content creators. Consequently, these companies leverage their dominant position to exert undue influence over access to information through content moderation, censorship, algorithmic filtering, and model training biases," she added.
"I would also like to take a moment to address the ongoing situation in Ukraine. It is reported that a minimum of 30 media professionals and journalists are being held against their will in the Russian Federation. It is of the utmost importance that member states increase political and diplomatic pressure on the Russian Federation to ensure the release and return to Ukraine of the journalists who have been arrested and illegally detained,” Ms Grippo added.
“As we celebrate World Press Freedom Day, it is crucial to acknowledge the challenging conditions, and in some cases, the significant sacrifices made by many journalists in providing us with reliable information, which is increasingly difficult to obtain in today's climate,” concluded the General Rapporteur.