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Journalism advocates often remind those listening that nobody should be threatened - or worse - for doing their jobs. The effect has been less than satisfying. Speaking truth to power paints targets on every media worker. Inevitably somebody says there ought to be a law.
Draft legislation adding journalists to existing hate crime protections was introduced last week (February 23) by Florida state senator Janet Cruz. The Offences Against Members of the Press bill addresses “a heightened risk of violent attacks as a result of irresponsible leadership throughout our country,” said the legislator, quoted by the Tampa Bay Times (February 23). “What sort of indictment is it on us if we fail to protect those that pursue no other goal but the interest of the public good?” Senator Cruz has represented the Tampa area in the Florida state senate since 2018.
Hate crime protections exist in Florida law for discriminatory violence or threats thereof targeting persons of color, gender and sexual orientation, religious preference, ethnic and national background, the disabled and homeless. The proposed law would elevate penalties when a hate crime is committed. The Florida legislature is scheduled to convene March 2nd for two months. To be fully considered by the legislature a similar bill, presently without a sponsor, must be submitted to the Florida House of Representatives. Both houses of the Florida legislature are dominated by right-wing Republicans for whom the very idea of a protected class - except their own - is anathema. (See more about press/media freedom here)
“During the attacks on the US Capitol (January 6), multiple members of the press were surrounded, intimidated, their equipment destroyed, and their lives threatened,” said Senator Cruz in a further statement. ”Reporters remarked that in coverage of the insurrection at the Capitol they had to wear protective gear used in covering conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Perhaps most memorable, was the image of ‘Murder the Media’ scratched into a door inside the US Capitol. This is about staying true to our nation’s most sacred values. Preserving the relationship of mutual trust with an essential institution, like a free press, is instrumental to the success of our democracy.”
Big and almost big powers have long invested in media operations outside their borders. Influence has always been the game. Some of this is rather tame, some explicit. It’s called, by foreign policy wordsmiths, soft power. Smaller regimes, often with bigger ambitions, are playing, too.
A report issued this past week by the Serbian Center for Investigative Reporting (CINS) has detailed media investments made in Serbia by the government of Hungarian right-wing xenophobe prime minister Viktor Orban, noted Serbian news portal N1info (February 26). During the last decade roughly €12 million was spent on Radio and Television Pannon, a Hungarian-language broadcaster operating in Subotica, just across the Serbian border. The funds were funnelled through Hungarian state-funded Bethlan Gabor Foundation. Other media outlets in the Hungarian-speaking area in Serbia also received funding, particularly during election cycle, including the oldest regional newspaper Magyar Szo. (See more about media in Serbia here)
RTV Pannon operates two radio stations, a TV channel and a complimentary website. Half of the money from the Hungarians arrived in 2019. Sources with the broadcaster interviewed for the report, quoted by Hungarian media portal media1.hu (February 28), detail disinformation orchestrated by Hungarian authorities broadcast about migrants. RTV Pannon director István Bodzsoni told CINS investigators that he was not personally in daily contact with MTVA, the Hungarian authority overseeing state broadcasting, and further details were “trade secrets.” (See more about media in Hungary here)
Hungarian designs to control media in another neighbor, Slovenia, were detailed last summer by Center for Media, Data and Society (CMDS) at Central European University (CEU) School of Public Policy director Marius Dragomir. “It is really important to look at this as the first step in the attempt to control independent journalism,” he said in an interview. “The government, associated with oligarchs and companies close to the government, took over all the levers of power in the media, including regulation, funding and so on, and then they start buying private media.” More than half a year later politico.eu (February 16) finally acknowledged the close links between Slovenian prime minister Janez Jansa and PM Orban in the quest to control media, referring to the “swift downturn in press and media freedom.” A fellow traveler, so to speak, is Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic.
Media workers toiling at outside activities (read: demonstrations and insurrections) quite normally distinguish themselves by wearing vests or patches adorned with “press” in an appropriate language. Such labels can also be seen on helmets. Some journalistic advocates, more recently, have questioned the wisdom of this practice as identification enables targeting by police and paramilitaries. It is a whole new level of worry.
Last week, ubiquitous Russian regulator Roskomnadzor (media, telecoms and speech) entered a new area: fashion. A new ruling, among many, was released, noted St Petersburg media news portal lenizdat.ru (February 26) about those journalist vests. They must be neon green with badges identifying the individual and their employer. “A photo, name, surname, middle name, name of the media and whether or not is it officially registered,” said Union of Russian Journalists president Vladimir Solovyov. “It’s that simple.” (See more about media in the Russian Federation here)
The object, said the agency, is to deter “fake” journalists from attending these public events. Last year rules from Roskomnadzor denied “registered media” status to those deemed “foreign agents,” meaning just about all international broadcasters and news outlets. Roskomnadzor is not providing the new neon green vests, only the design, and news outlets will be required to produce them to order.
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