15 Oct 19 | Europe and Central Asia, News and features, Spain
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Punch and Judy puppets. Credit: Sid Williams / Flickr
Thousands of protesters spilt onto the streets of Barcelona, Spain, yesterday as news of the prison sentences for Catalonia’s separatist leaders spread.
But for those who have been watching Spain’s responses to those who critic or protest against the government over the past few years, the harsh prison sentences will have been less of a surprise.
Strange things have been happening in Spain and few outsiders have been taking notice.
There was the case of the Spanish comedian Dani Mateo who described a monument to former dictator General Francisco Franco as “shit” on a satirical television show and then was accused of “hurting religious feelings” and called before a judge to explain.
Then there were the two puppeteers who were charged after one of the puppets in their Punch and Judy show carried a sign for a made-up terrorist group. The puppeteers were unable to leave the country for weeks, receiving anonymous threats and having to report regularly to the police.
There’s Facu Díaz, who was prosecuted for posting jokes on social media; Cassandra Vera, who was sentenced to a year in prison for making jokes about a former Spanish president; and three women who were accused of a religious hate crime for mocking a traditional Easter procession.
Many of these charges relate to the citizen security law, passed in 2015, which allows the prosecution of journalists for reporting police interventions. Here we have an attack on the right of the public to know what is happening in their own country. That law was passed in parliament with the votes of the conservative Partido Popular, but with no support from other parties.
The 2015 reforms created a range of terrorism offences, but have also been used in the way of security laws throughout the ages to prosecute people that the government didn’t want to speak.
In a piece published in Index on Censorship magazine, Virginia Álvarez of Amnesty International said: “This is not preventing terrorism crimes but allowing the state to act against humorous comments,” she said. “Governments are using the insecurity caused by terrorism to curb freedoms and deactivate social movements.”
For more on how Spain has been cracking down on protest, also read No laughing matter by Silvia Nortes for Index.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1571135437802-698a9fdb-98b9-9″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
13 Jun 19 | Campaigns, Campaigns -- Featured, Statements
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”107234″ img_size=”full”][vc_column_text]EU leaders from Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain are urged to address the ongoing impunity in the case of assassinated journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia
To: Mr Emmanuel Macron, President of France; Mr Giuseppe Conte, Prime Minister of Italy; Mr Nicos Anastasiades, President of Cyprus; Mr Alexis Tsipras, Prime Minister of Greece; Mr António Costa, Prime Minister of Portugal; and Mr Pedro Sánchez, Prime Minister of Spain.
13 June 2019
Your excellencies,
Journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was assassinated in Malta by a car bomb on 16 October 2017. There is no process inquiring into the circumstances of the murder. We, the undersigned organisations, have advocated extensively for justice in the case and are closely monitoring the process on the ground.
A report on the assassination, titled “Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination and the rule of law, in Malta and beyond: ensuring that the whole truth emerges”, by the Special Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Pieter Omtzigt, was adopted by the Legal Affairs and Human Rights Committee meeting in Paris on 29 May 2019.
The report highlights a series of concerns relating to the investigation into the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, and Malta is requested to establish an independent and impartial public inquiry within three months to determine whether the state could have prevented the assassination – a call we have made repeatedly. The Committee noted fundamental weaknesses in Malta’s system of democratic checks and balances, seriously undermining the rule of law. This is an alarming situation, particularly in a Council of Europe and European Union member state. The Maltese authorities are called upon to take steps to end the prevailing climate of impunity.
So far, the Maltese government has blocked a public inquiry, leaving journalists continuing to work in Malta at great risk and forcing Galizia’s family to litigate the Prime Minister’s refusal to hold a public inquiry into the assassination. Only a public inquiry can determine how best to guarantee the safety of journalists and prevent future attacks. The Venice Commission Opinion on Malta states Malta’s positive obligations in relation to the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia. A public inquiry is the only process that can effectively address these positive obligations. The call for a public inquiry is supported by a resolution by the European Parliament which requests the Maltese government to launch a public inquiry, and calls on the EU institutions and the Member States to initiate an independent international public inquiry into the murder and the alleged cases of corruption, financial crimes, money laundering, fraud and tax evasion reported by the journalist.
By signing the Sibiu Declaration, you have pledged to safeguard Europe’s democratic values and the rule of law. We therefore urge you to address the matter of safety of journalists and ongoing impunity in the case of Daphne Caruana Galizia in your meeting with Prime Minister Muscat in Valletta on 14 June.
Thank you for your attention.
Kind regards,
Dr Lutz Kinkel, Managing Director, European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF)
Sarah Clarke, Head of Europe and Central Asia, ARTICLE 19
Annie Game, Executive Director, IFEX
Joy Hyvarinen, Head of Advocacy, Index on Censorship
Ravi R. Prasad, Director of Advocacy, International Press Institute (IPI)
Carles Torner, Executive Director, PEN International
Rebecca Vincent, UK Bureau Director, Reporters Without Borders (RSF)[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1560437482746-8cffafe9-48c7-1″ taxonomies=”8996″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
29 Mar 19 | Campaigns -- Featured, Magazine, Press Releases, Volume 48.01 Spring 2019, Volume 48.01 Spring 2019 Extras
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”97% of editors of local news worry that the powerful are no longer being held to account ” google_fonts=”font_family:Libre%20Baskerville%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700|font_style:400%20italic%3A400%3Aitalic”][vc_column_text]
Ninety seven per cent of senior journalists and editors working for the UK’s regional newspapers and news sites say they worry that that local newspapers do not have the resources to hold power to account in the way that they did in the past, according to a survey carried out by the Society of Editors and Index on Censorship. And 70% of those respondents surveyed for a special report published in Index on Censorship magazine are worried a lot about this.
The survey, carried out in February 2019 for the spring issue of Index on Censorship magazine, asked for responses from senior journalists and current and former editors working in regional journalism. It was part of work carried out for this magazine to discover the biggest challenges ahead for local journalists and the concerns about declining local journalism has on holding the powerful to account.
The survey found that 50% of editors and journalists are most worried that no one will be doing the difficult stories in future, and 43% that the public’s right to know will disappear. A small number worry most that there will be too much emphasis on light, funny stories.
There are some specific issues that editors worry about, such as covering court cases and council meetings with limited resources.
Twenty editors surveyed say that they feel only half as much local news is getting covered in their area compared with a decade ago, with 15 respondents saying that about 10% less news is getting covered. And 74% say their news outlet covers court cases once a week, and 18% say they hardly ever cover courts.
The special report also includes a YouGov poll commissioned for Index on public attitudes to local journalism. Forty per cent of British adults over the age of 65 think that the public know less about what is happening in areas where local newspapers have closed, according to the poll.
Meanwhile, 26% of over-65s say that local politicians have too much power where local newspapers have closed, compared with only 16% of 18 to 24-year-olds. This is according to YouGov data drawn from a representative sample of 1,840 British adults polled on 21-22 February 2019.
[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/4″][vc_icon icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-quote-left” color=”custom” size=”xl” align=”right” custom_color=”#dd3333″][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”3/4″][vc_custom_heading text=”The demise of local reporting undermines all journalism, creating black holes at the moment when understanding the “backcountry” is crucial” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” google_fonts=”font_family:Libre%20Baskerville%3Aregular%2Citalic%2C700|font_style:400%20italic%3A400%3Aitalic”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text]The Index magazine special report charts the reduction in local news reporting around the world, looking at China, Argentina, Spain, the USA, the UK among other countries.
Index on Censorship editor Rachael Jolley said: “Big ideas are needed. Democracy loses if local news disappears. Sadly, those long-held checks and balances are fracturing, and there are few replacements on the horizon. Proper journalism cannot be replaced by people tweeting their opinions and the occasional photo of a squirrel, no matter how amusing the squirrel might be.”
She added: “If no local reporters are left living and working in these communities, are they really going to care about those places? News will go unreported; stories will not be told; people will not know what has happened in their towns and communities.”
Others interviewed for the magazine on local news included:
Michael Sassi, editor of the Nottingham Post and the Nottingham Live website, who said: “There’s no doubt that local decision-makers aren’t subject to the level of scrutiny they once were.”
Lord Judge, former lord chief justice for England and Wales, said: “As the number of newspapers declines and fewer journalists attend court, particularly in courts outside London and the major cities, and except in high profile cases, the necessary public scrutiny of the judicial process will be steadily eroded,eventually to virtual extinction.”
US historian and author Tim Snyder said: “The policy thing is that government – whether it is the EU or the United States or individual states – has to create the conditions where local media can flourish.”
“A less informed society where news is replaced by public relations, reactive commentary and agenda management by corporations and governments will become dangerously volatile and open to manipulation by special interests. Allan Prosser, editor of the Irish Examiner.
“The demise of local reporting undermines all journalism, creating black holes at the moment when understanding the “backcountry” is crucial. Belgian journalist Jean Paul Marthoz.
The special report “Is this all the local news? What happens if local journalism no longer holds power to account?” is part of the spring issue of Index on Censorship magazine.
Note to editors: Index on Censorship is a quarterly magazine, which was first published in 1972. It has correspondents all over the world and covers freedom of expression issues and censored writing
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Rachael Jolley is editor of Index on Censorship. She tweets @londoninsider. This article is part of the latest edition of Index on Censorship magazine, with its special report on Is this all the Local News?
Index on Censorship’s spring 2019 issue asks Is this all the local news? What happens if local journalism no longer holds power to account? We explore the repercussions in the issue.
Look out for the new edition in bookshops, and don’t miss our Index on Censorship podcast, with special guests, on iTunes and Soundcloud.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_custom_heading text=”Is this all the Local News?” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.indexoncensorship.org%2F2018%2F12%2Fbirth-marriage-death%2F|||”][vc_column_text]The spring 2019 issue of Index on Censorship magazine explores what happens to democracy without local journalism, and how it can survive in the future.
With: Richard Littlejohn, Libby Purves and Tim Snyder[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_single_image image=”105481″ img_size=”full” onclick=”custom_link” link=”https://www.indexoncensorship.org/2018/12/birth-marriage-death/”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][vc_custom_heading text=”Subscribe” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]In print, online. In your mailbox, on your iPad.
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17 Dec 18 | Europe and Central Asia, Mapping Media Freedom, Media Freedom, media freedom featured, News and features, Spain
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RTVE presenters, together with Begoña Alegría, director of information services
In June 2018 Spain’s then-prime minister Mariano Rajoy was forced out of office in a vote of no-confidence filed by the main opposition party, the social-democratic Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE). The right-wing People’s Party mandate had come to an end, and a new government headed by PSOE secretary-general Pedro Sánchez is in power with just 84 seats in a 350-seat parliament. This instability is affecting the reform of public radio and television corporation RTVE while exposing how parties try to control it.
The new government approved the temporary renewal of RTVE’s president and board, which consists of ten directors, six elected by the Congress of Deputies, the lower house of Spain’s parliament, and four by the Senate, the upper house of Spain’s parliament. A two-thirds majority is needed in both houses and four members of the board did not obtain the necessary votes. A tug-of-war between the parties led to the inability to obtain the necessary majority and forced the appointment of journalist Rosa María Mateo as provisional administrator.
On 10 July a public tender to appoint a permanent replacement was approved. The candidates would be evaluated by a committee of experts and ten of them would be elected by the Congress of Deputies and the Senate. The evaluation by the committee will end, at the latest, on 17 December.
In addition to this complex procedure, RTVE’s News Council – the internal body in charge of guaranteeing independence and unbiased information – have been reporting cases of manipulation by political powers in recent years. Between July 2015 and January 2016 the council counted 113 cases of bad practices, Alejandro Caballero, president of the News Council, tells Index on Censorship’s Mapping Media Freedom platform. “In 2016 there were 116 cases. In 2017 the figure skyrocketed to 230.”
Caballero says there is a lack of tools to avoid manipulation before it occurs, and there is also a problem with self-censorship among some of those appointed. “A great part of the experienced editorial team was removed and replaced by editors who were either hired from media outlets with a marked ideological line,” he said, or young, inexperienced people who — in the face of high unemployment rates for journalists — are vulnerable to influence and pressure.
The council’s reports have not been taken into consideration by news services management at anytime between 2014 and 2018, Caballero says. “We have been seen as opponents and our relationship with the president and the board has been purely epistolary.”
In May 2018 representatives of the News Council turned to the European Parliament to claim that the People’s Party government was violating the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU and Directive 2010/13/EU, which requires member states to guarantee freedom of information and pluralism of the media. The petitions committee of the European Parliament agreed to send a letter to the Spanish government asking for an explanation.
Caballero points to a specific circumstance that “caused RTVE to move back on the path towards editorial independence. The People’s Party government won the elections in 2011 obtaining an absolute majority and revoked the law that forced the president of RTVE to be elected through consensus between parties (two-thirds of the votes). RTVE became directly dependent on the government”. Now that the two-thirds are required again, Caballero sees grounds for hope. However, “it is necessary to go more deeply to ensure that RTVE’s executives are truly independent”.
On the other hand, changes carried out in RTVE staff since the arrival of Mateo as the provisional administrator have been controversial and even described as a “purge” by a People’s Party spokesperson. Twenty-four hours after the appointment, news services director José Antonio Álvarez was replaced by journalist Begoña Alegría. All the area editors were removed, except for the culture editor. These include Álvaro López (international), Carmen Sastre and José Gilgado (news services), Juan Carlos Roldán (regional centres), Julián Reyes (sports), Luis Javier Alcalá (national), Óscar Gutiérrez (society) and Cecilia Gómez (economy).
As a consequence, more than 50 workers set up the Platform For a Free RTVE in defence of “an authentic free, independent and plural public radio and television” to “avoid abuse and reprisals”. Their manifesto denounces the “unbearable amount of dismissals and appointments” of workers close to the new managers, accusing them of partisan practices.
As reported by online media outlet El Confidencial, soources close to those dismissed are questioning the News Council and blaming it for the changes. Caballero says these claims are false: “The NC has no direct responsibility for appointments. Its responsibility is to inform on the suitability of those appointed to editorial positions. It is an advisory body with no executive authority.”
The quarterly report covering July, August and September 2018 includes only four cases of bad practice. Caballero explains that “cases reported during the last few months are basically mistakes acknowledged by those who made them, rather than the result of manipulative practices”. The previous report documented seventy cases of manipulation and censorship under the former RTVE management.
Nevertheless, as Caballero points out: “It takes time to infer whether those are isolated mistakes. If they are constantly repeated, then we will be in a different scenario.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1544612088328-bdb65266-29e0-6″ taxonomies=”199, 7389″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
