#MEDIA

The number of attacks on journalists in Georgia was nearly five times higher in 2024 than the previous year, the Georgian chapter of global rights watchdog Transparency International has said in a report.

Two private TV stations in Poland – TVN and Polsat – are to be listed as strategic companies to protect them from takeovers by hostile entities, the prime minister announced on Wednesday.

Just a week after sparking a barrage of criticism, a state-owned regional Polish radio station has cut short an experiment in which it used artificial intelligence to co-create programs.

Markets are watching a family drama unfold in the business empire of one of Poland’s richest men—Zygmunt Solorz—as his children accuse his new wife of trying to take control of his assets.

Robert Fico, the Slovak prime minister, has long had a somewhat fraught relationship with the press. But if anybody was thinking that his time spent convalescing following his shooting earlier this year may have softened his attitude towards the press, they better think again.

Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram among other social media, has blocked Russian state media operators including the RT television channel from accessing its apps over allegations of attempting to influence the results of the coming U.S. presidential election.

The foreign ministry in Warsaw has condemned a Kremlin decision to label Polish state broadcaster TVP’s subsidiary Belsat TV – a media outlet aimed at Belarusians – as an “undesirable organization”.

Radosław Sikorski, Poland’s foreign minister, has confirmed that the Belarusian-language channel Belsat will remain a part of state-owned Polish Television (TVP).

Hungary’s new Sovereignty Protection Office aims to give Viktor Orbán’s complete control over the country’s media and NGOs, critics have warned.

An independent English language news outlet in Russia has been declared “undesirable” by the country’s Prosecutor General’s Office.

The government of Montenegro has imposed a ban on broadcast and internet transmission of 20 Russian TV channels, justifying the move as being part of “international restrictive measures” against Russia called for by the European Council over the war in Ukraine.

Baltic and Ukrainian public broadcasters signed a memorandum on Thursday, aiming to create a mutual support mechanism in times of crises.

Poland’s public TV station TVP is to merge its foreign language channels into one “organizational structure” in a move aimed at “strengthening Poland’s message to the world.”

The Warsaw Prosecutor’s Office announced on Saturday it had opened an investigation into a cyberattack in May on the Polish Press Agency, to be conducted by the Internal Security Agency (ABW).

Amid growing protests, media experts have moved quickly to question the restructuring of RTVS.

Slovakia’s parliament has passed a bill on scrapping the state-run media company RTVS (Radio and Television of Slovakia) and replacing it with a new organization.

Workers at Slovakia’s public broadcaster RTVS went on strike on Monday, protesting government plans to relaunch the broadcaster under new leadership.

The announcement came just hours after Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman warned that Western journalists may be targeted in response to sanctions.

Poland has been ranked 47th out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index 2024, as published on Friday by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), marking a 10-position advancement compared to last year.

According to the president, Latvian public media ought to completely transition to Latvian language only by 2026.