Physical, verbal, online and legal attacks are undermining the ability of public service media to cover major news events, according to the European Broadcasting Union which has launched a campaign to counter them.
The campaign, OurJournalistsOurFreedom, seeks to raise awareness of the scale of the issue and call for change.
The Reporters Without Borders organisation calculates that 24 journalists have been killed so far in 2022, six of them in Ukraine.
Deputy Chair of the News Committee at the EBU, Eimear Lowe said members had reported a significant increase in cases of verbal and physical intimidation.
As an example, Lowe said the NOS station in the Netherlands had been forced to remove logos and branding from its outside broadcast trucks, because of targeted aggression.
Editor-in-Chief at NOS News, Marcel Gelauff said its reporters frequently encountered name-calling and threats, especially on social media, and accusations of spreading fake news.
“It has become a big problem to cover demonstrations linked to the Corona policy of our Government, to a point where we’ve had to keep a distance,” Mr Gelauff said.
One public broadcaster, who wanted to remain anonymous in case of reprisals, said at a protest in support of Russian opposition figure, Alexei Navalny “our correspondent was hit by police and injured”.
Deputy Director Media and Head of News at the EBU, Liz Corbin said reporting accurate, factual and trusted news depended on journalists being able to cover stories safely and without hindrance.
“Unfortunately, we are seeing trends that point to journalists being seen, not as neutral observers, but as the enemy,” Ms Corbin said.
“Not only is this hugely distressing to our staff, it has severe implications for how we report a story — or in some cases, if we report a story,” she said.
“It has to stop.”
Bern, 12 May 2022
