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As Russia wages warfare on Ukraine, preserving unity between America and the European Union is the highest precedence of Mark Gitenstein, the U.S. ambassador to the EU.
However one other precedence for the veteran diplomat is supporting a free and unbiased press.
Gitenstein sees this as important to sustaining democracy in Europe and elsewhere.
“Once I end my mandate right here this can hopefully change into my life’s work,” he stated throughout a wide-ranging interview from Brussels.
Gitenstein is especially taken with seeing information organizations develop worthwhile, sustainable enterprise fashions that protect their independence.
He stated this enhances his work supporting the international coverage of President Joe Biden, his longtime buddy.
The core of Biden’s international coverage “is preserving democracy within the face of autocracy” and the “free press and unbiased journalism is on the coronary heart of what democracy stands for,” Gitenstein stated.
This was pushed residence when Gitenstein served as ambassador to Romania, below President Barack Obama. He noticed firsthand the worth of unbiased reporting as Romania labored by way of its transition to European Union membership and commenced tackling corruption and judicial reforms.
“I got here to know the significance of investigative journalism as an adjunct to the method by which the rule of legislation regimes and anti-corruption regimes are established in an rising democracy, particularly in member states of the EU,” he stated.
Even in locations with robust authorized and regulatory techniques, the press performs a vital position in reporting issues and enhancing governance, he stated.
For example, he known as out a 2022 investigation by The Seattle Instances and ProPublica that exposed weak oversight and main issues at personal particular schooling colleges in Washington state.
“If you happen to assume that occurs in Washington state, think about what occurs in Hungary or Poland, Bulgaria and even Romania,” he stated. “So however for investigative journalists, we might haven’t any democracy, even with all of the conditionality and enforcement mechanisms that the fee has, it needs to be supplemented by folks on the bottom who actually perceive what’s occurring.”
In 2007 Gitenstein moved to Seattle to be near household. He plans to return to Seattle and concentrate on sustaining the press after his time period in Brussels.
He’ll additionally keep shut with Biden. They turned buddies 5 a long time in the past, working collectively within the Senate, Biden as a senator and Gitenstein as a Judiciary Committee counsel.
Gitenstein stated he mentioned supporting the press “quite a bit” with Biden earlier than he was appointed ambassador in 2021.
A specific concern within the U.S. is the unfold of reports deserts because the business contracts and consolidates. Gitenstein stated consolidation is a unique drawback, however with the identical end result, in a handful of European nations with strained democracies.
There, the priority isn’t hedge funds bleeding papers dry. As an alternative, it’s oligarchs buying media retailers to allow them to management protection and cut back accountability, he stated.
“The issue in Europe is extra what I’d name pluralistic media or unbiased media not being managed by the dangerous guys, which is a significant issue in 4 to 5 member states the place there may be severe backsliding occurring,” he stated.
Such acquisitions are potential partially as a result of the normal, advertising-based enterprise mannequin that supported unbiased information retailers is collapsing amid unfair competitors by monopolistic tech corporations.
“It’s not solely correct in the USA, it’s simply as correct in Europe,” Gitenstein stated. “I feel the explanation that an oligarchy can exit and purchase an investigative journalism platform or an unbiased newspaper in Romania is as a result of there isn’t any different different income supply. That’s a particularly harmful state of affairs.”
Gitenstein is simply one of many distinguished press advocates within the Biden administration, which has a number of initiatives to help journalism overseas.
That features grant funding and help for packages resembling Reporters Shield, a program to guard journalists from defamation lawsuits and authorized threats, introduced final month by U.S. Company for Worldwide Growth Administrator Samantha Powers.
Biden has commented on the necessity to maintain the press and his Division of Justice is suing Google for alleged anti-competitive enterprise practices harming publishers.
Maybe it’s time for the White Home to additionally assist Congress end lingering payments to avoid wasting native journalism within the U.S.
They embrace the Journalism Competitors and Preservation Act, enabling information retailers to collectively discount content material offers with tech platforms, and the Native Journalism Sustainability Act, which would offer momentary tax credit to protect newsroom jobs whereas the business works by way of its digital transition and waits for antitrust enforcement to degree the taking part in area with tech giants.
Gitenstein stated he’s not an professional on these points however he’s supportive of labor by U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., to advance the tax credit.
“I’m upset it didn’t get carried out,” he stated. “This stuff take time. I’ve watched the media function right here, what the (European) Fee is attempting to do to lower focus (of possession) right here, which is a bit of completely different, and so they’re working into the identical issues. The large conglomerates are pushing again on it.”
With luck the U.S. can have handed laws to stabilize its personal unbiased press system earlier than Gitenstein returns to Seattle.
In that case, Gitenstein will likely be an awesome ally in retaining the momentum going and sharing these concepts with the remainder of the world. If not, and the native journalism disaster will get worse and additional weakens our democracy, we’ll want his experience much more.
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