‘You Cannot Silence Everyone’: World Experts Comment on Tallinn’s Threat Against Sputnik Employees

Employees of Sputnik Estonia received letters from Estonia’s Police and Border Guard Board threatening criminal prosecution unless they quit the news agency by 1 January 2020. The shocking decision has been met with widespread condemnation.

Journalists and experts from around the world commented on Estonia’s threats of criminal prosecution against Sputnik employees, condemning the country’s authorities for a blatant violation of the freedom of the press.

According to David Romero Dias, an attorney and political analyst from Spain, many national governments, organizations and corporations seek to monopolize the media sphere, feeling insecure if the multiple alternative sources of information make it difficult for them to control the narrative.

“There is a huge number of alternative information sources and means of delivery, and, as we see, nations and large corporations, including the media, seek to monopolize it, because they understand that information is power that influences entire societies.”

The Iranian head of the state-run Al Vefagh newspaper, Mosayeb Naimi, criticized western media for championing freedom of expression only when that freedom serves its interests.

He added that “only obedient journalists” can speak freely in Europe, while others face travel and visa obstructions.

Emad Abshenas, editor-in-chief of the Iran Daily and head of the Free Iranian Journalists Association, commented that Western countries “do not want to hear the voice of reality” and believe they can cap it by introducing information censorship.

Janusz Niedzwiecki, head of the European Council on Democracy and Human Rights, called Estonia’s actions an “unprecedented act of violation of basic human rights and freedom of expression.”

Niedzwiecki noted that Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights guarantees all citizens freedom of opinion, which includes freely receiving and disseminating information without state interference.

Former Polish Sejm member and activist, Miroslaw Orzechowski, says no one’s official activity should be banned if that activity is connected to a state with heavy political weight.

Dragana Tirfkovic, director of Serbia’s Center for Geostrategic Studies, pointed out that Estonia is ranked remarkably high on the Reporters Without Borders list – 11th place in 2019 – and wondered how a country with such a high freedom rating could engage in what she suggests is threat and repression.

She noted that today, “Investigative journalism has been seriously questioned precisely by the criteria for selecting ‘acceptable’ views. If a journalist has to write according to political views that are desirable, then there is no talk of any freedom. This calls into question the independence of reporting and the freedom of the media.”

Tirfkovic stressed that “it is necessary to establish the same criteria that will allow journalists to express their views freely, whether they belong to leading Western media companies or others.”

The views and opinions expressed in the article do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.

Sourse: sputniknews.com

‘You Cannot Silence Everyone’: World Experts Comment on Tallinn’s Threat Against Sputnik Employees

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