News and press releases

VIENNA, 23 April 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today called on the President of Kyrgyzstan to veto a bill that could reintroduce criminal defamation in Kyrgyzstan...

An OSCE-supported guidebook on the role of the public and of journalists during criminal proceedings before the courts was launched in Skopje on 23 April 2014...

VIENNA, 22 April 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today expressed deep concern about new cases of detention and attacks on journalists in eastern Ukraine...

VIENNA, 17 April 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today condemned the seizure of the television tower in Sloviansk in eastern Ukraine...

ODESA, 16 April 2014- Ending her three-day visit to Ukraine, OSCE media freedom representative Dunja Mijatović today said that the media freedom situation in Ukraine has reached a very dangerous stage, and she alerted OSCE participating States that unless this trend is reversed it could contribute to the deterioration of the security situation.

As the current crisis in and around Ukraine demonstrates, propaganda and deterioration of media freedom often go together to fuel a conflict, and once it starts they contribute to its escalation. The need to stop propaganda is frequently being used as a reason for blocking and jamming television and radio signals or imposing other restrictions to freedom of expression and freedom of the media. Taking into consideration the broadness and vagueness of the term propaganda, and its direct link to political speech, its blank prohibition would violate international standards for the protection of free expression and free media.

VIENNA, 11 April 2014 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović today expressed concern about recent developments in Kazakhstan’s legislation that might restrict media freedom and Internet access...