Human rights

Media rights endangered

Human rights are crucial for journalists to conduct their job as watchdogs of the administration properly. One of the most important rights is freedom of expression, which encompasses the right to look for information independently and without any obstructions, use it and spread it further. It also includes the right to have a secret source of information. However, governments often try to limit the freedom of media in order to hide their wrongdoings as well as often accusing media representatives of collaborating with the opposition, foreign countries or whoever they are against.

In the most oppressive regimes in the world, such as Turkmenistan or Northern Korea it is not even possible to think about free media as all media is administered by the state and under strong censorship. However, also in countries which are either relatively free or which are considered to be free rights of media representatives are often being violated.

An illustrative example is Venezuela, where, during the protest in early 2014, the government openly embraced the classic tactics of an authoritarian regime, jailing its opponents and muzzling the media. Journalists together with human rights defenders have reported being subject to acts of violence and intimidation by government agents and supporters. Less severe examples can also be found in Slovakia where the head of the parliament decided to limit the numbers of journalists coming into the building as well as to limit the area which they have access to in the building (allowing members of parliaments to hide away from questions bothering them) and thus limit the coverage on some issues.