VIENNA, 23 November 2021 – Addressing the genuine risk of being targeted with legal procedures and vexatious litigation that journalists and other media workers face, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media (RFoM), Teresa Ribeiro, launched today a special report on legal harassment and abuse of the judicial system against the media.

The report elaborates on instances where the law is being misused to prevent journalists and other media workers from doing their work, or as a means of retaliation for their unwanted investigations or reporting. This risk comes in many forms, ranging from administrative sanctions or criminal prosecution, to (the threat of) extensive and expensive civil litigation by powerful individuals and organizations.

The report contains 11 recommendations to provide general guidance to OSCE participating States regarding their related commitments.

“Legal harassment can pose a serious threat to the safety of media and the economic basis of media workers and outlets and, hence, has a strong chilling effect on media pluralism, undermining journalistic freedom in the OSCE region,” said Ribeiro. “The use of legal instruments and procedures to intimidate, hinder and stifle journalistic work is in stark contradiction to the safety of media workers as established in various OSCE principles on freedom of expression and freedom of the media.”

The report can be found here.

https://www.osce.org/representative-on-freedom-of-media/505075