DISINFO: Press freedom means nothing to the European Union
SUMMARY
On May 18, the ban on Russian media broadcasting in the EU came into effect. The EU imposed restrictions on the newspaper Izvestia, Rossiyskaya Gazeta and RIA Novosti. The ban also included the Czech Voice of Europe. In December 2023, the European Union, as part of sanctions against Russia, restricted the activities of the SPASS and Tsargrad TV channels.
This decision shows that freedom of expression and press freedom mean nothing to the EU. The Brussels bureaucracy is prepared to silence any media outlet that does not fit the left-liberal agenda that dominates the West today. Brussels also fears that the views broadcast by Russian media will be in demand among the EU population.
Russian citizens are all guilty in the eyes of the Western elite. They are willing to punish them on the basis of citizenship alone. This has nothing to do with democracy and human rights that the West pays lip service to.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the EU violating freedom of speech and press, in the context of the adoption of the 14th package of EU sanctions on Russian for it's unjustified and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
On 17 May, the Council of the EU decided to suspend the broadcasting of four additional Russia-associated outlets. These are Voice of Europe, RIA Novosti, Izvestiya and Rossiyskaya Gazeta. The decision was based on the fact that these media outlets are used as a tool of Russian propaganda and disinformation. See here for the list of outlets sanctioned previously.
The Council of the EU affirmed that:
The Russian Federation has engaged in a systematic, international campaign of media and information manipulation, interference and grave distortion of facts in order to justify and support its full-scale aggression against Ukraine, and to enhance its strategy of destabilisation of its neighbouring countries, and of the EU and its member states. In particular, the propaganda, information manipulation and interference activities have repeatedly and consistently targeted the Ukrainian state and its authorities, Ukrainian citizens, as well as the European political parties, especially during election periods, as well as targeting civil society, asylum seekers, Russian ethnic minorities, gender minorities, and the functioning of democratic institutions in the EU and its member states.
The EU has repeatedly stated that the fight against disinformation is a key priority for the Union. In 2015, the East StratCom Task Force was created to better forecast, address, and respond to the Russian information war. In 2018, the European Commission presented an action plan to counter disinformation. In 2020, the European Commission adopted the European Democracy Action Plan to build more resilient democracies across the EU.
The EU countries are considered free and democratic by Freedom House.
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