At a time of worrying pressures on independent media in several Member States, an initiative by more than 80 MEPs (including MEPs from the European Democratic Party Sylvie Brunet, Marie-Pierre Vedrenne, Catherine Chabaud, Christophe Grudler, Izaskun Bilbao Barandica) coordinated by French MEP Laurence Farreng (MoDem), is a reminder of the importance of acting against threats to these pillars of the rule of law.

In Poland, on 10 February, almost all the private and independent media went on strike by displaying only a black page on the screens, front page and websites with the following words: “Here should be your favourite information service. But today, you won’t read any content on it. See for yourself what a world without independent media will look like”. This unprecedented strike follows the announcement by the PiS (Law and Justice, Conservative) government of a tax on advertising revenues, which would strongly affect the Polish media ecosystem.

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