The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomed the European Commission’s new guidelines for the protection of journalists and urged member states to implement them as soon as possible.
On Wednesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen gave a State of the Union speech, where she spoke about the need to protect journalists and unveiled the guidelines.
The guidelines are recommendations, and thus nonbinding. Nevertheless, they list a number of steps that each EU member country can take to ensure journalists’ safety.
According to the Commission, countries should prosecute all criminal acts against journalists, require local authorities to create their own guidelines, and take an active part in the protection of female and other minority journalists, among others.
Tom Gibson, CPJ’s EU representative, said that “[j]ournalist safety is in jeopardy throughout Europe, and these guidelines provide a clear roadmap for leaders to protect the press.”
He also urged the Commission to be tougher with problematic states.
