Our View: Media freedom cannot mean state control

It is deeply ironic that Cyprus’ state authorities are using a European regulation on media freedom, the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), to restrict media freedom by exercising control over journalists. The government has transformed the regulation, after minimal public dialogue, into a law proposal that would make journalists answerable to state appointees who will have the authority to demand the disclosure of sources. The government has been toying with the EMFA for almost two years, while it had an obligation to enshrine it in law in September 2025. The initial bill was presented in March last year, a revised version in February and since then it had been gathering dust in the legislature. The primary purpose of the EMFA was to safeguard freedom of expression and the independence of the media and journalists, but it was used instead to introduce controls and reasons to justify state interference in the work of the press. Journalists who did not cooperate with the authorities, when asked to do so, would be subject to punitive measures. They would even be obliged by law to reveal their sources. This is part of the general attempt by the government to regulate free speech both on social media and news media. With the current bill the Radio and Television and Digital Services Authority and the Press and Information Office will be given the power to prosecute journalists and impose administrative fines as well as have sweeping supervisory authorities, which are unheard of in a democratic country that protects free speech. It will also give the authorities the power to order journalists to reveal their sources. It is a relief that deputies have also expressed strong objections about the bill. The chairman of the House interior committee, Aristos Damianou, said the bill did not meet the current needs of Cypriot society. Not only did it fail to regulate correctly the issues at hand, but “it shows an inclination for violating constitutionally protected rights of journalists and media more broadly.” He also cited the objections of the Cyprus Union of Journalists and the Journalistic Ethics Committee, which the committee would take into account when going through the bill. In its current form, the bill was “unacceptable,” said Damianou. It is difficult to understand the government’s illiberal thinking, especially considering President Christodoulides was elected on promises of transparency, accountability and participatory democracy. The bill, if approved as it is, would limit both transparency and democracy as well as threatening journalists with prosecution when they try to do their job. We cannot have state appointees supervising journalists and holding them to account, as if we are living in a police state, in the name of the European Media Freedom Act.