Image © Shutterstock In line with the Council of Europe Guidelines on protecting freedom of expression and information in times of crisis, the crisis situation should not be used as a pretext for restricting the public's access to information. Neither should states introduce any restrictions on media freedom beyond the limitations allowed by Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Freedom of expression, media independence and open deliberation, rather than information control, are the core principles underlying European democracy which will allow us to surmount the great challenges facing our countries.

Toolkit by the Secretary General on the impact of the sanitary crisis on freedom of expression and media freedom (SG/Inf(2020)19)

Read more on challenges to freedom of expression and media freedom in the times of crisis and human-rights compliant responses

  • Freedom of expression and information and media freedom are crucial for the functioning of a truly democratic society and continue to be so in times of crisis. The provision of timely information about public health risks is a critical element in crisis response.
  • Media play a key role, also coupled with increased responsibility, in providing accurate, reliable information to the public, but also in preventing panic and fostering people’s understanding for and cooperation with necessary restriction. Media organisations and journalists should adhere to the highest professional and ethical standards, give priority to authoritative messages regarding the crisis, and refrain from publishing, and thus amplifying, unverified stories.
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Back Democracy Talks: the role of Public Broadcaster in a time of crisis

Democracy Talks: the role of Public Broadcaster in a time of crisis

Patrick Penninckx, head of the Council of Europe Information Society Department, together with the Ambassador of Sweden to Ukraine, Tobias Thyberg, will make an opening speech at the web-conference “Democracy Talks: The role of Public Broadcaster in time of crisis” on 14 May (15.00-16.30).

The conference is aimed to discuss how to ensure effective operations of Ukrainian public broadcaster UA:PBC in a time of COVID-19 crisis. The Public Broadcaster has an essential role in providing independent news content to the public. In these times of crisis, unbiased information becomes even more important.

International expert Eve Solomon will present at the conference the conclusions of the Council of Europe expert analysis on “Draft law on amendments to the law of Ukraine “on public television and radio broadcasting of Ukraine” (on raising effectiveness of operation of the National Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine.

Jan Petersson, Director of Strategy Swedish Radio, Yevhen Hlibovytsky, member of Supervisory Board of UA:PBC and Yevheniya Kravchuk, deputy Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy of Ukraine, will also speak at the conference.

The conference is jointly organised by the Embassy of Sweden to Ukraine and the EU-CoE JP “EU and Council of Europe working together to support freedom of media in Ukraine”.

Link to the event’s page at Facebook

Presentation: Disinformation in times of pandemic

Link to streaming in English and in Ukrainian

Strasbourg 14 May 2020
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"Everyone has the right to freedom of expression"

Art. 10 European Convention on Human Rights

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