We need to take the protection of journalists seriously

The current case of a convicted journalist shows where to start: decriminalising the work of journalists.

Former parliament speaker Pavol Paška was successful with his complaint against a journalist. Former parliament speaker Pavol Paška was successful with his complaint against a journalist. (Source: Sme)

The author is chief executive of the Slovak Broadcasting Council and vice-chair of the European Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media Services

The recent, tragic death of Slovak journalist Ján Kuciak drew the attention of the public to the conditions of journalistic work. The Commissionaire of the Council of Europe for Human Rights, Nils Muižnieks, in this connection noted that he is missing a discussion on the greater protection of the journalists in Slovakia. This is an accurate observation, but before we start looking at how the state can legally help journalists, we have first to remove the obstacles the state has created for them.

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