“Press freedom continued to be under sustained pressure in Europe in 2025, driven by legal threats, physical attacks and intimidation, attempts of media capture and transnational repression”: this is written in the annual report of the partner organisations to the Council of Europe’s newly established Platform to promote the protection of journalism and safety of journalists.

The long Report (75 pages), with figures and real-life stories, says that “this situation was mitigated by initiatives in several states and at the European level to improve press freedom and journalists’ safety, including the adoption of action plans to protect journalists and legislation in some countries to address issues such as abusive lawsuits, disinformation and source protection”. The report, entitled “On the tipping point: press freedom 2025”, notes that Russia’s war against Ukraine remained the most serious threat to journalists: four media workers were killed, others were injured, and many remain detained in occupied territories or have disappeared. “Across Europe, journalists were often physically attacked during protests by police, political actors and protesters. This kind of attack was reported in one quarter of the states covered by the report, with the highest levels recorded in Georgia, Serbia and Turkey”.