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The entire media environment was recently slightly shaken by the open letter of the Latvian Radio Editorial Board “The limits of freedom of speech are narrowing”. In the context of the threats and insults that Re:Baltica journalists are constantly receiving, a very unpleasant trend emerges. In other words, journalists are starting to be afraid to write about certain topics, afraid of their emotional well-being and even physical safety.
Constant attacks on social networks and private messages are a fact. Both from anonymous trolls and identifiable, intellectually innocent individuals. It’s literally everyday. Personally, receiving and listening to such communication does not worry me much, but this in no way justifies it and does not make it the norm. Also, many colleagues are definitely a little more sensitive than I am.
The situation and conditions that have developed are not normal, and it is made even worse by the fact that various political forces are starting to interfere in the work of journalists, sending checks by various state institutions on top of the media. This is censorship in the literal sense of the word and restriction of freedom of speech. But.
Somewhere in all this, such a thing as rational and justified criticism has disappeared. It’s all mixed up with bullying, name-calling, threats and everything else. And then in that cauldron it starts to look like any criticism is to some extent an attempt to limit freedom of speech and censor the media. I cannot agree with this at all.
#Writing #Russian #critical #freedom #speech #Latvia
– 2024-04-13 10:05:22
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