madam president i shall try to keep to the time
i am pleased that the commission acknowledges the important role of a free press in maintaining democratic integrity
however all too often the political elite adopt an attitude that words mean what they say they mean
this is one of those cases
today in this parliament an article in the løkkegaard report called for correspondence from the brussels press corps to be organised in order to cover eu news in a more instructive manner
journalists are there to inform not to instruct
more than anything else journalists value their independence
if they do not have independence they cannot be considered free
the commission already exerts too much control over the media in brussels through financial incentive and through coercion
europarl tv is talked about here as if it had some news value it does not
its content is nothing more than press releases with moving pictures
this is why nobody watches it
the løkkegaard report was actually voted through this parliament today requiring eu studies to be incorporated into school curricula
any journalist would tell you there is no place for propaganda in free and independent media
the ngo reporters without frontiers has already identified italy bulgaria and slovakia as having notable problems with their press freedoms
france and spain also failed to meet the standards that free citizens should have the right to expect
in the uk we already have a press that can be considered to be free even if they use allegedly a lot
as we have seen here today the eu seems to be moving in the opposite direction
