Hundreds of international media companies issued statements on Tuesday accusing Britain’s Conservative Party of undermining press freedom by demanding journalists cover their annual conference. The French press office AFP, the American newspapers ‘The New York Times’ and ‘The Washington Post’ and the German newspaper ‘Der Spiegel’, among others, have signed an open letter on this matter.
The declaration has been signed by nearly three hundred media companies from more than sixty countries, including China and Russia.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s ruling party is demanding compensation from the media in exchange for accreditation for the first time at last year’s conference. This year again, the media will have to pay 137 pounds (160 euros) to report on the conference which will take place in October in Manchester. If implemented after August 1, the fee will even be increased to 880 pounds (just over 1,000 euros).
“Dangerous precedent”
“As a result, this decision sets a dangerous precedent for countries around the world which will use this decision to justify financial and other obstacles to media coverage of the political process,” the statement read. “Therefore, we ask the organizers of the Tory party conference to remove or refund fees and allow fair and free reporting.”
It itself claims that the fee is needed to cover administrative costs for the “thousands” of journalists who are not present. However, the Foreign Press Association of UK-based foreign media said the party has not provided any evidence that journalists fail on such a scale.
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