In Belarus an aircraft is forced to land so that a dissenting blogger can be arrested. In the US, representatives of the foreign press were attacked during the storming of the Capitol, and in Hong Kong more and more journalists are again being detained. The freedom of the press is in jeopardy across the world – and not just in autocratic regimes.

The number of countries where journalists can exercise their profession without repression saw yet another decline last year. In the annual index produced by Reporters without Borders, the situation in only 12 of the 180 countries surveyed ranked “good”. Last year Germany lost its status, with the situation now rated only satisfactory. The reason given for this downgrade was a fivefold increase in attacks on media representatives versus 2019.

Switzerland has a relatively good level of press freedom by international standards, and retains its “good” rating; nonetheless, it slipped two places compared with the previous year and is now ranked tenth. Despite what is still a good ranking, the issue is increasingly in the spotlight in this country too. In February the SRF correspondent in Minsk was arrested, whereupon the political powers that be in Switzerland felt compelled to intervene with the Belarus ambassador.

Restricted media freedom weakens democracy
Journalists being arrested, attacked or even murdered is the most extreme consequence of a lack of press freedom. In Switzerland they are largely spared repression of this sort. Even so, the debate on the extent of press freedom is also in full swing in this country. The Council of States wants to lower the hurdle for taking legal action against reports in the media as part of an amendment to the Swiss Civil Procedure Code. The amendment is designed to make it easier to obtain superprovisional measures against pending media reports; in other words, a judicial stop to planned publications. After the decision, the CEO of the publishers’ association even spoke of an “attack on press freedom”.

So why is the freedom of the press so important? The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) deems free and independent media to be a cornerstone of democratic societies. The media are often referred to as the fourth estate. In other words, the media serve as an additional, controlling power alongside the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government. The importance of press freedom for a functioning democracy shouldn’t be underestimated, especially in direct democracies, where the close involvement of the population means the need for information and controls is essential. If press freedom is attacked, it always also puts pressure on the democratic system itself. This is particularly evident in countries that have turned their back on democracy: attacking the media was in most cases the first step in the process.