On 10 November the Office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media published the third edition of its Safety of Journalists Guidebook, authored by William Horsley, Centre for Freedom of the Media (CFOM) co-founder and International Director.
The Guidebook explains that “the environment for journalists and other media actors in the OSCE area remains difficult and dangerous”. In fact, “the OSCE Annual Report, as of the end of 2018, [showed that] more than 150 journalists were still in prison, compared to 170 in 2017. In 2019, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media responded to numerous attacks and threats against journalists. Two journalists were killed in the OSCE region in 2019: Lyra McKee, who was shot while covering riots in Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom; and Vadim Komarov, who died after being attacked in Cherkasy, Ukraine. Many other journalists were attacked, wounded or threatened because of their investigations, reports or critical views”.
The Guidebook contains recommendations on how to better protect the media and create an enabling environment for unhindered press freedom in the OSCE region.
The Guidebook also takes into account good practices and events undertaken by international organisations, governments and non-governmental organisations to create a safer environment for members of the media since the second edition of the Guidebook was published in 2014.
The guidebook is available in English and Russian here: https://www.osce.org/representative-on-freedom-of-media/469758