Irish trust of media 'relatively high' but EU press freedom ‘under sustained attack’, report finds

Viktor Orban arriving at an EU summit in February. The report cites Hungary as a key example of concentrated ownership that can capture political media. Photo: AP/Geert Vanden Wijngaert

Journalists in the EU face increasing levels of harassment, threats, and violence, while news outlets are owned by a shrinking number of proprietors and public trust in the media has plummeted, a report has found.

The Civil Liberties Union for Europe (Liberties) said the findings of its fifth annual media freedom report should place EU officials “on high alert”, with media freedom and pluralism “under sustained attack” across mainland Europe.

Europe’s leading civil liberties group also warned public media independence was being steadily eroded by political interference and budget cuts, and journalists were being increasingly hampered by restrictions on free expression and access to information.

“A healthy, pluralistic media system is a litmus test and mirror of democracy,” said Eva Simon, Liberties’ senior advocacy officer. “Where the rule of law weakens — through deliberate government action or neglect — media freedom is undermined.”

Journalist safety in particular reached what the report called “a crisis point” in Europe in 2025, with reporters and media workers facing “extreme physical violence and systemic legal harassment”, including bomb attacks targeting investigative reporters.

In Athens, a device containing 5kg of TNT was thrown at the Athens home of Yannis Pretenteris, the editor of the weekly newspaper To Vima. In Italy, a device exploded under the car of Sigfrido Ranucci, a leading investigative journalist.

In total, 118 attacks against journalists were recorded in Italy last year, 15 of them involving physical violence. Some 20 Italian journalists — mainly investigating organised crime – live under police protection, the highest number in Europe.

The Netherlands recorded an increase in attacks on journalists for the third year in a row last year, with 106 threats, 67 incidents of intimidation and 55 cases of physical violence.

Online harassment also grew. A record 377 serious online attacks, including death threats, targeted journalists in 2025, while in Malta, Hungary and Romania, politicians launched smear campaigns labelling news outlets “forces of darkness” or “foreign propaganda machines”, the report found.

Slapps, or strategic lawsuits against public participation, are still being widely used to silence journalists and media outlets despite the existence of an EU anti-Slapp directive that has yet to be effectively implemented in several member states.

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Liberties also expressed alarm at the continuing concentration of media ownership, and lack of ownership transparency, across the EU last year.

It highlighted Hungary, where a foundation backing outgoing prime minister Viktor Orbán controls a majority of media outlets, and France, where a few billionaires, including the conservative Vincent Bolloré, own much of the country’s media.

Financial instability was an increasing threat to public media, it added, with proposals in France to merge all public outlets, Germany closing 16 radio stations and two TV news channels, and Belgium’s public broadcaster facing major budget cuts.

The report also highlighted declining public trust in Europe’s media, with only three of 22 EU countries surveyed, including Germany and Ireland, reporting “relatively high” trust levels and some, notably Greece, Romania and Bulgaria, “critically low”.

- The Guardian