Journalism Worthy of the Name: An Affirmative Reading of Article 10 of the ECHR
| Author | Herdís Thorgeirsdóttir |
| Date | 01 December 2004 |
| DOI | 10.1177/016934410402200405 |
| Published date | 01 December 2004 |
| Subject Matter | Part A: Article |
JOURNALISM WORTHY OF THE NAME: AN
AFFIRMATIVE READING OF ARTICLE 10 OF THE ECHR
HERDI
´STHORGEIRSDO
´TTIR*
Abstract
In an era of globalisation the significance of large media conglomerates in shaping public
opinion gets ever more real. The author argues that it is no longer realistic to assert that the best
press law is no law at all. The traditional criteria of hands off policy with regard to the media is
obsolete not only in light of increased concentration of media power but also with an affirmative
reading of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and the democratic
significance of the press as the public watchdog. Legal regulation may be the only safeguard left
to counter the market control of the media – more often than not supported by political interests.
Supra-national institutions like the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human
Rights may be the only forces available to counter the growing impact of big corporations
potentially crushing fundamental rights in a parallel manner as many governments were
suspected of when the European Convention on Human Rights was designed as a collective
safeguard against abuse of power by authorities. The Convention did not put an end to
pressures on media freedom. While it has developed into a constitutional bill of rights for the
now 45 member States of the Council of Europe its relevance is of no less importance in the well-
established original member States as in the newer ones. Journalists are not only threatened by
shameless rulers but also by tough corporate elites who have the same objective as their
forerunners who were elected – to use the media for their own agenda. An affirmative reading of
Article 10 providing the argument for legislation, to guarantee freedom within the press,
requires a separate theory and justification.
1. GROWING CONCERN OVER MEDIA DEVELOPMENT
In various member States of the Council of Europe the press
1
is harassed and
journalists suffer despite the constitutional doctrine concerning press freedom and
supra-national surveillance based on the European Convention on Human Rights
and Fundamental Freedoms (hereinafter: the Convention).
2
The Parliamentary
Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights, Vol. 22/4, 601-622, 2004.
#Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM), Printed in the Netherlands. 601
* Dr. Jur. Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Bifrost School of Business, Iceland. A book on this
subject by this author is about to be published by Brill.
1
The term press is used in a comprehensive manner throughout this article. It is used
interchangeably with the term media. Both terms encompass all forms of news media, where the
basic criterion is the political role of the medium in the democratic process. The word does not
distinguish between different forms of media unless so specified. Printed press covers newspapers
and magazines; broadcasting refers to television and radio. The Internet does not belong to the
category of broadcasting law.
2
ETS. 5, signed at Rome on 4 November 1950; entered into force on 3 September 1953, after its
ratification by eight countries: Denmark, the Federal Republic of Germany, Iceland, Ireland,
Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
602
Assembly of the Council of Europe has declared its concern by the intimidation,
repeated aggression and murders of journalists in Ukraine and the frequent abuse
of power by the competent Ukrainian authorities in respect of freedom of
expression.
3
The murder of journalist Gongadze four years ago has evoked
tremendous concern on the entire continent but there are serious allegations
involving authorities in the disappearance of Gongadze.
4
The general prosecutor’s
investigation has never dealt with this issue and journalists’ associations all over the
world have been campaigning for a thorough investigation and just resolution over
the case.
5
Many believe that until it is dealt with, dictators and bullies everywhere will
believe they have impunity to use violence to shut up journalists who write things
they do not like. The Council of Europe suspended Belarus’s ‘special-guest’ status in
1997, saying its new constitution fell short of democratic standards. In Belarus there
has been a systematic crackdown on the independent press,
6
newspapers are
suspended for being satirical in the run up of parliamentary elections and criminal
prosecutions are used against journalists charged with libel and insulting the
President and State officials. Sheer oppression of this kind seems a throwback to
another era but is occurring now at the threshold of the Council of Europe. Even in
the so defined well-established democracies of Europe the media situation is far
from the ideal of the effective political democracy that the founders of the
Convention dreamt of. Most would want to avoid the fate of Italy where Prime
Minister Berlusconi, Italy’s richest man,
7
is the owner of three Mediaset channels –
Italia 1, Rete 4 and Canale 5 and holds political influence at the board of State
broadcaster RAI where journalists critical of the Prime Minister say they have been
removed from reporting or presenting jobs in a ‘climate of self-censorship’
8
by
editors keen ‘not to rock the boat’. Journalists claim that there is a permanent
climate of restriction where certain subjects must not be touched.
9
Many maintain
that news is being turned into distraction, as illustrated with the term
infotainment.
10
In 2003 the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) backed a
Herdı´s Thorgeirsdo´ttir
3
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Resolution 1239 (2001) on Freedom of
expression and the functioning of parliamentary democracy in Ukraine.
4
Idem. Reporters without Borders called for a public trial on 15 September 2004 amid new
revelations about the case by the press and judicial officials.
5
International Federation of Journalists, 16 September 2004, ‘Four years and still the fight goes on:
journalists demand justice over Gongadze’, www.ifj-europe.org/default.asp?index=2696&Langua-
ge=EN.
6
Over the past two years, more than 20 non-governmental newspapers have been shut down for
various reasons. Among them are Pahonia and Rabochy, whose editors and a correspondent were
sentenced to several months of ‘restricted freedom’ to be served in special labour camps. Source:
International Pen Writers in Prison Committee, Belarus Action, 12 November – 10 December 2003
7
Besides his three TV channels, the Prime Minister controls the largest publishing house,
Mondadori, and the agency, Advertising House Publitalia. His construction firm has built many of
the houses Italians live in, and his supermarkets provide much of their food. He is indirectly
involved in a takeover bid for the biggest insurance firm, Generali. See The Observer, 16 March 2003.
8
For further reading on self-censorship, see Thorgeirsdo´ttir, H., ‘Self-Censorship among Journalists:
383-399.
9
Allessandro Filippini, who has worked at the State TV channel, RAI, for 16 years, in an interveiw
with The Observer, 16 March 2003.
10
Cf. Parliamentary Assembly Council of Europe, Doc. 9000, 19 March 2001, Freedom of Expression and
information in the media in Europe, Report Committee on Culture, Science and Education,
Rapporteur: Mr. Gyula Hegyi.
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