The international round table on the threat of freedom of speech in Europe and in general 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 at the UN Office in Geneva. The round table discussed the persecution of independent journalists and activists.
Watch the full roundtable:
Dragana Trifković, director of the Center for Geostrategic Studies, made the following observations:
The journalistic profession has been compromised and disgraced, because investigative journalism has been abolished and subservient journalism has been introduced. This trend began to force itself vigorously in the early nineties and today it is experiencing its peak. I know it very well because I am from Serbia, which was satanized by the media in the 1990s. We have not been able to repair the damage caused to the reputation of Serbia by the global media under the control of the West.
Leading media controlled by Western power centers have been used as a weapon for years against all countries and peoples who want to preserve their independence, sovereignty, dignity, their value system and which do not fit into the Western-centric system.
Recently, the Center for Geostrategic Studies, which I manage, conducted a research based on which a documentary film was made (In cooperation with TV Slavija info): When lying becomes a profession
We came up with the following data: 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 about fifty companies. The aforementioned giant companies control the media in Europe, as well as on other continents, and their annual revenues individually amount to tens of billions of dollars. These six companies control about 70% of cable television, numerous radio stations, as well as printed newspapers around the world.
Such monopolized media is very easy to use as a political weapon.
The problem is that journalists are already taught during their studies that they should be obedient and actually reduce their work to copying propaganda pamphlets. Last week, we published the text of the testimony of a journalist from France about the experience of working for the French media. She writes about the fact that the Elysée 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 main media and impose their political agendas on them. The paradox of today is that we hear about democracy and human freedoms every day, in many cases those who utter those words simultaneously carry out persecution and violence against freedom.
Read the article:
Numerous independent journalists as well as intellectuals are under the attack of fierce propaganda for expressing their own views, which have led them to various blacklists and are exposed to constant threats. Ukraine, which supposedly strives for democracy and European integration, has actualized the practice of persecuting dissidents and creating lists of "enemies". Zelensky's regime, at the behest of the US and NATO, targets and persecutes free-thinking people around the world, calling them information terrorists, Russian agents, propagandists and similar names. These are public figures who oppose imposed narratives and present their own views on the conflict between NATO and Russia.
I myself am exposed to such attacks and my name is on black lists, just because of the positions I advocate, which are not politically suitable for the persecutors of free thought. Ethical codes in journalism have completely disappeared, and media dealing with manipulation construct indictments without any evidence.
I am also in contact with numerous independent journalists from various European countries, who, because of their objective reporting from the battlefield, suffer tremendous repression, which is why they had to move. Many of them live in war zones, because they are prevented from returning to their countries of origin.
Also many associations of journalists are corrupt and the whole system is made to make it impossible for independent journalists to do their job.
An obvious example of an attempt to kill freedom of speech is the case of Julian Assange, who has been imprisoned for years because of the truths he spoke.
This practice must be stopped and journalism must be depoliticized and returned to certain professional standards. The monopoly in the media must be abolished. It is very important to discuss this topic and that is why I suggest that we continue the communication.
October, 2023.