According to research recently conducted by the Prime Ministry's Directorate General of Press and Information (BYEGM), Western countries have failed to provide press freedom in their own countries despite their criticisms of Turkey.
Through the examples compiled in relation to France, Germany, England and even the U.S. by BYEGM, the report stated that "concrete examples revealed the situation for the journalists in the mentioned countries is not 'all lavender and roses'." In fact, one of the most recent examples in BYEGM's report is the European Parliament introducing a resolution to implement restrictions on Russian media, which Russian President Vladimir Putin described as a "failure in Western society's perception of democracy."
Despite Western states praising and demanding democracy and freedom in other countries, the research conducted gives the example of the U.K.'s controversial Investigatory Powers Bill, which was passed by its Parliament last month after more than a year of debate and amendments. The new snooping law gives authorities - from police and spies to food regulators, fire officials and tax inspectors - powers to look at the internet browsing records of everyone in the country, and it also requires telecoms companies to keep records of all users' web activity for a year, creating databases of personal information that the firms worry could be vulnerable to leaks and hackers. However, the BYEGM research draws attention to Western states' criticisms over Turkey for its temporary data collection bill for counter-terrorism measures while the U.K.'s remains intact. Another incident the research touches upon is the censored events occurring at never-ending state of emergency in France.
The BYEGM highlighted this year's April and May "Nuit Debout" (Up All Night) gatherings, which began on March 31 to protest the government's proposed labor reforms and have since grown to encompass a range of grievances, from the plight of migrants to tax evasion. The report claimed: "A journalist was banned from following and taking photos from the protest. Another journalist's photos from the protests in the city of Rennes were deleted by the policemen as three cameramen were assaulted by the police during the incidents."
Furthermore, an incident from Germany was mentioned in the research where monthly magazine Cicero's office was raided by police among claims of "publishing the government's secret documents." Also, "A journalist, Marie Delhaes in May 2014 was forced to be a witness against a terror suspect and was threatened with facing fines if she refused to be a witness." During the Ferguson protests in the U.S. over police shooting an African-American teenager 14 media members from institutions like Anadolu Agency, Die Welt and Bild "were arrested by police officers and were faced with poor treatment." The Wall Street Journal's Middle East correspondent Maria Abi-Habib was detained by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for the reason: "travelling to dangerous places." The BYEGM research stated, "the examples can further be extended however, above mentioned examples are already enough to see the whole picture."
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