OSCE warns of shrinking media freedoms
“Media freedom is threatened in most European countries”, headlines the EUobserver. The warning comes from the 56-member Organisation for Co-operation and Security in Europe (OSCE), which has published a report highlighting incidences in several member states including EU countries France, Italy and Greece. The Brussels based news website notes that, “The breaches, either existing or potential, to media freedom range from a draft law on electronic surveillance and electronic eavesdropping law in Italy which could "seriously hinder investigative journalism" to a draft law in Estonia that may allow too many exemptions to the right to protect the identity of sources, to the fact that French President Nicolas Sarkozy nominates the head of the public service broadcaster, France Televisions.”
Meanwhile, Milan daily Corriere della Sera explains that the Italian parliament has decided to postpone to September the vote on PM Silvio Berlusconi’s controversial “Gag Law” on wiretapped conversations. The law is contested by a large section of the judiciary, the press and public opinion, since it curtails the right to carry out wiretaps in the public interest and to publish the transcripts. Corriere also reports that blogs which do not publish corrections issued by the concerned parties also face heavy fines of up to €25,000.
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