OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media meets with Ambassador of Estonia

The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media (RFoM), Teresa Ribeiro, met on 26 January 2021 with Ambassador Sander Soone to discuss the current state of media freedom in Estonia and the broader OSCE region. 

Ribeiro and Ambassador Soone discussed issues such as safety of media workers, including harassment of female journalists online, counteracting disinformation, the impact of artificial intelligence on media freedom, and other challenges to a full execution of the RFoM mandate.

Ribeiro referred to the 2019 developments – when journalists of the Sputnik-Estonia website were obstructed in their work – and underlined the need to enable all journalists to freely report on all matters of public interest in their country and abroad. She raised the question of whether these actions disproportionally affected media freedom and freedom of information. Ambassador Soone replied by referring to the Opinion of the European Commission interpreting the application of EU financial sanctions of 19 June 2020 and to the ongoing legal dispute between Sputnik and the authorities in domestic courts.

Ambassador Soone expressed the wish of his authorities to support the work of the RFoM, in particular in her long-term projects, such as reports and guidance on restrictions on freedom of information caused by the ongoing pandemic and on addressing disinformation.

Ribeiro and Ambassador Soone agreed they would follow-up this discussion within the framework of the informal OSCE Group of Friends on the Safety of Journalists.