Freedom of expression and freedom of the media

In Luxembourg the media landscape was complicated due to the use of multiple languages. Over the last 30 years a lot had changed. Originally newspapers were linked to political parties, and given that everybody knew everybody in a small country, the tradition was not confrontational, however, now that there is a majority of foreigners in the media, there is a tendency to be more direct and critical. Luxembourg has gone down to 21 in 2022 from 17th place in 2020 in the World Press Freedom Index. There was a law on freedom of expression in the media, but this did not allow for the same access to information as in comparable countries. In 2021 there had been a campaign backed by the European Federation of Journalists asking to change the law. The Minister for Media had issued a circular that access to information for journalists should be regulated and pass via communication officers. Journalists took this as a negative sign, as one of the advantages in Luxembourg was easy access to officials and politicians. After a question in parliament, the Minister for Communication had clarified that a second circular would make sure that the communication officer would give an answer within 24 hours as to whether and when the information could be provided. This mostly worked well, however, it was cumbersome to file a complaint in case of non-compliance. Delay in access to information was the biggest problem for journalists. The government mentioned that it was obliged to reply to requests within 24 hours. This requirement was not always easy to meet, so sometimes they asked journalists for more time. However, a new constitution was adopted and would enter into effect in July, after 20 years of drafting, and the principle of access to documents was included in the new constitution. Participants explained that the government provided financial support to the media that was now linked to the number of recognised journalists working for an outlet. It could be debated who was a recognised journalist, but the Press Council was the authority that handed out press cards. It was composed of 15 people representing publishers and 15 representing journalists. The salary paid to journalists had to be paid for journalistic work and be covered by a work contract. Freelancers also had to prove income. In this system bigger newspapers might be privileged, but it was not linked to political affiliations and there was a cap on how much support an outlet could get. Freedom of expression was guaranteed, there was no control. There have been a few mishaps during the COVID-19 lockdown where press conferences had not been accessible to the public for lack of microphones and cameras. 4 Foreign influence on the media has not been an issue in Luxembourg and the financial support for the media meant that the media landscape was healthy in Luxembourg.