DINK’S MURDER – ACT OF BRUTAL VIOLENCE: THOMAS HAMMARBERG

news.am
May 3 2010
Armenia

"The media landscape is changing at an unprecedented pace. Ownership
concentration, closures of newspapers, cutbacks and de-staffed
newsrooms coincide with the outpouring of an extraordinary amount
of undigested information on the Internet. Media markets are growing
fast, but offer a more superficial coverage. A crisis of journalism
is rapidly threatening to become a serious problem for democracy in
Europe," said EU Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg on
World Press Freedom Day, CoE website reads.

"Investigative journalism faces other severe problems that need urgent
attention — journalists in Europe are still being harassed, threatened
and even killed in the line of duty in order to silence the truth. On
3 May, World Press Freedom Day, it is impossible not to think of some
of Europe’s most prominent investigative journalists who have fallen
victim to atrocious acts of violence: Anna Politkovskaya in Russia,
Hrant Dink in Turkey, Georgyi Gongadze in Ukraine and Elmar Huseynov
in Azerbaijan were all brutally murdered. The four of them showed
unmatched courage and personal dedication to revealing the truth about
controversial political issues. Their deaths may make other journalists
more cautious and cause self-censorship. Governments must demonstrate
forcefully that they are prepared to protect the freedom of the media,
not only in words, but also through concrete action. No effort must be
spared to apprehend and bring to justice not only the actual killers,
but also those who ordered these murders," EU Commissioner stated.