Journalists in Europe often face interference in their work inclusive with violence and intimidation. Often this leads to self-censorship.

This is evidenced by the results of the poll, promulgated today by the Council of Europe and available to ZN. UA. The study involved 940 journalists from 47 member countries of the Council, as well as from Belarus.

The survey was conducted between April and July 2016. Almost a third of the journalists admitted that they faced physical attacks during the last three years. However, the most frequent intervention in journalistic work was psychological violence inclusive with intimidation, threats, insults and slander. About the experience of such pressure reported 69% of interviewed journalists.

The second most common way of interfering in the work of press officers was cyberbullying in the form of accusations of bias, dissemination of misinformation, participation in defamatory campaigns or attacks on someone. About this form of pressure reported 53% of survey participants.

Intimidation by concerned groups was the third most frequent form of interference in journalistic activities. It was indicated by half of the respondents. Also, 46% of respondents described threats to use force, 43% - about intimidation by political groups, about surveillance (39%) and intimidation by the police (35%).

Almost two thirds of the respondents indicated that they do not feel protected from surveillance. A half of respondents said they consider their ability to protect sources of information under threat.

21% of the journalists surveyed reported cases of theft, confiscation or destruction of property related to professional activity, 19% reported contactless theft of personal property, and 13% reported sexual harassment. Almost a quarter of the respondents indicated that during the last three years they faced arrests and prosecutions, mainly because of libel laws.

The survey also showed that physical attacks most often occur in the countries of the South Caucasus and Turkey. In the same region, journalists are most often threatened with reprisals. Although there were also reports of such cases from EU member countries and non-Western European countries.

35% of survey participants indicated that they do not have access to protection mechanisms against interference in their work. The survey indicates a high level of fear of journalists before intervention in their work, in particular because of psychological violence (60%), cyberbullying (57%), interference by other people (51%), interest groups (45%) and physical violence (41%). One-third of the interviewed journalists are conscious of fear for the safety of their families and friends.

All this causes a high level of self-censorship. Every fifth participant of the survey admitted that he felt pressure on his report work because of the influence on the employer. 31% of respondents admitted that they were forced to soften their controversial reporting, and 15% refused to publish such reports. At the same time, 36% of journalists during the survey said that the pressure forced them to fight more with external or self-censorship.