EU failing to protect journos

The European Union has failed to tackle challenges to press freedom within its borders, notably from the hardline government of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a rights group said yesterday.

The Committee to Protect Journalists said in a report that Brussels should do more to make member states defend media rights and that the EU's institutions were "poorly equipped" to take such action.

"By not holding member states to account, the EU has failed to forcefully and consistently defend press freedom," the organisation said, adding that some countries "backslide on their democratic commitments."