The international round table on the threat to freedom of speech in Europe and generally in the West was held in an online format. This event was organized with the support of the Department for multilateral cooperation of the Permanent Delegation of the Russian Federation to the UN Office in Geneva. The round table talks about the persecution of independent journalists and activists.
Dragana Trifković, director of the Center for geostrategic Studies, stated the following observations:
Today, freedom of speech is threatened to the limit, thanks to the policies of the West that assure us that it is fighting for democracy and human freedom.
The journalistic profession was compromised and disgraced, because investigative journalism was abolished and subordinate journalism was introduced. This trend began to force strongly in the early 1990s and is currently experiencing its peak. This is very well known to me because I am from Serbia, which was demonized by the media in the 1990s. The damage done to the reputation of Serbia by the global media controlled by the West, we have not been able to repair until today.
The leading media controlled by the Western power centers for years has been used as a weapon, against all states and peoples who want to preserve their independence, sovereignty, dignity, their value system and who do not fit into the Western-centric system.
Recently, the Center for geostrategic studies conducted research on the basis of which a documentary film was made (in cooperation with TV Slavija info): when lying becomes a profession
90% of the media in the United States is controlled by just six companies: News Corp, Time Warner, Sony, Comcast, Viacom, and Disney. Thirty years ago this media space was controlled by Fifty companies. These giant companies also control the media in Europe, as well as on other continents, and their annual revenues are in the tens of billions of dollars. These six companies also control about 70% of cable television, numerous radio stations, and print newspapers around the world.
So monopolized media is very easy to use as a political weapon.
The problem is that journalists are now learning during their studies that they should be obedient and actually reduce their work to transcribing propaganda pamphlets. Last week we published the article of the testimony of a journalist from France about the experience of working for the French media. She writes that the Elysee Palace invited the chief editors of the media in France, to explain to them how they should report to the citizens of France. The same problem exists in almost all European countries. That the ruling structures appoint the editors of the left-wing media and impose their political agendas on them. The paradox of today is that we hear about democracy and human freedom every day, in many cases those who say these words simultaneously carry out persecution and violence against freedom.
Many independent journalists as well as intellectuals are under intense propaganda for expressing their own views that have put them on various blacklists and are subject to constant threats. Ukraine, which purportedly strives for democracy and European integration, has actualized the practice of persecuting dissidents and making lists of "enemies". The Zelensky regime, ordered by the US and NATO, targets and persecutes freethinkers around the world by calling them information terrorists, Russian agents, propangandists and similar names. These are public figures who oppose the imposed narratives and present their own views on the conflict between NATO and Russia.
I myself have been subjected to such attacks, and my name is on the blacklists, only because of the views I advocate, which are not politically appropriate for the persecutors of Free Thought. Ethical codes in journalism have completely disappeared, and the media that deals with manipulation construct indictments without any evidence.
I am also in contact with numerous independent journalists from various European countries, who, due to objective reporting from the battlefield, suffer huge repressions, which is why they had to move. Many of them live in war zones because they are unable to return to their countries of origin.
Also many journalists ' associations are corrupt and the entire system is designed to prevent independent journalists from doing their jobs.
An obvious example of an attempt to murder freedom of speech is the case of Julian Assange, who has been imprisoned for years for the truths he told.
This practice must be stopped and journalism must be depolitized and returned to certain professional standards. The monopoly in the media must be abolished. It is very important that this topic is discussed and therefore I suggest that we continue communication.
17. October 2023.
