Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-05-17-Speech-4-204"
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"en.20010517.9.4-204"2
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"Mr President, thank you, also for this piece of advice. Freedom of expression and particularly the independence of the media help guarantee and promote democracy in the world. The persecution of journalists in their profession is a sign of incapacity to respect a democratic structure, but this is a rule rather than an exception. Even today, journalists around the world are the subject of censorship, physical sanctions and infringements of personal dignity. In many cases, the journalists involved get killed. The problem lies, of course, in Russia where, since Putin took up office, we have seen fresh developments in Russia’s post-Soviet media market. The trend is clear. The Kremlin is trying to impose its will on Russia’s national networks ORT, RTR and NTV, and to develop an ideology in which the media will only be able to advertise State interests.
We were able to witness this again recently when on 10 May, the Attorney General burst in on Echo Moscow, a radio station, and confiscated all financial and commercial documents. Where this will end in Russia, we do not yet know, but it is clear that that country’s democracy is in crisis.
Needless to say, we also need to keep a watchful eye on democracy in Europe. The President of Italy has been mentioned a moment ago, who owns a company which owns
three television channels, as well as the largest national publishing house, which, in turn, publishes magazines that support that politician. I find the initiative of Mr Van den Berg (PSE) an interesting one to contemplate. In fact, we should also be aware that this phenomenon not only occurs in Italy, of course. Maybe in England too, there is a media monopoly, and that is to the advantage of the Social-Democratic government in the light of the pending elections. There are similar developments in other countries too. It seems to me to be a good idea for the European Parliament to look into this issue and to see what it can do about it, for it concerns us all."@en1
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