Too many European journalists are intimidated in the form of psychological or physical violence, Internet harassment or legal prosecution, and a large percentage of them is self-consciously fearful of these pressures, the Council of Europe denounces in a report it has made public today.
Over the last three years, 40% of the journalists interviewed in this report said they had suffered unjustified interference in their work, serious enough to have an impact on their privacy.
At the forefront of these pressures is the psychological violence, which was suffered by 69% of the respondents, followed by Internet harassment (53%). Intimidation from the police confronted 35% of respondents with journalists and sexual harassment at 13%.
23% of respondents were faced with arrest, investigation, threats of persecution or real persecution.
Although the laws used to prosecute these are mostly anti-defamation laws, journalists in Turkey are more often prosecuted under anti-terrorism laws or laws on state security and state interests, the report said.
The Turkish journalists questioned are also the most who complained that they were victims of targeted surveillance (almost 87% of them).