The EU should set explicit press freedom requirements for candidate countries

Despite being viewed as a key component of European democracy, media freedom varies significantly across EU states. Based on the annual ‘Freedom of the Press’ report produced by Freedom House, Jennifer Dunham assesses media freedom in EU candidate countries. She notes that seven of the eight candidate or potential candidate states considered have press freedom ratings substantially below the EU average, with Turkey and Macedonia in particular experiencing sharp declines in recent years. She argues that the EU should set explicit press freedom requirements for candidate countries and enforce these more strictly during the accession process.