por Viviane Reding:
I want – not only as a former journalist myself, but also as the Commissioner in charge of all information society and media players – to use this appropriate opportunity to remind Member States and employers of their obligations to protect the work of journalists, notably the right not to reveal their sources – unless this results from the penal law – and the right to exert their work without unnecessary restrictions. In this context, I would like to mention that the introduction in the new "Audiovisual Media Services without frontiers" Directive of a new right to short extracts for the purpose of news coverage, which includes a right to access events.
In the recent Commission proposal on combating terrorism, I have ensured that journalists should not be accused of public provocation to terrorism when they report or investigate terrorist acts.
Still on rights and duties of journalists: I follow closely the Ethical Journalism Initiative, which is timely and opportune and a very good example of self-regulation, applied here to reporting on issues related to multi-ethnic and multi-religious communities.
