OSCE Representative calls on Austrian Ministry of Interior to treat all media equally and to refrain from attacking them

VIENNA, 25 September 2018 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir, today criticized the Austrian Interior Ministry’s instruction to boycott and restrict the flow of information to certain media outlets, and called on the Ministry of Interior to refrain from attacking the media.

The instructions set out new guidelines aimed at limiting information to certain media outlets, in particular Der Standard, Falter, and Kurier, to only the most necessary, legally required, degree. The Interior Ministry criticized these media outlets for their “one-sided and negative coverage” and urged police departments to no longer grant them any “privileges”.

"While the Interior Ministry subsequently described the instruction as a ‘suggestion’, I urgently call on the Interior Ministry to immediately and officially revoke this instruction. I recall that protection of media freedom is key to democracy. Access to information must be provided to all media equally regardless of their editorial orientation,” Désir said.

The Representative noted with satisfaction comments by the President of Austria, Alexander Van der Bellen, who stated that “freedom of expression and freedom of the media are the cornerstones of a liberal democracy, and that discrimination against any single media outlet must not occur”, and the statement by the Chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, which noted that “any restriction on press freedom is unacceptable” and that “the exclusion or boycott of any select media outlet is not permitted in Austria”.

Désir also recalled that the Minister of Interior, Herbert Kickl, in a recent broadcast on ORF in June, suggested that certain journalists may be under investigation for their reporting on the work of the Austrian intelligence services.