Freedom of the Press in Austria and Turkey                        
 
It seems paradoxical from time to time. In Austria, we enjoy all the pluralistic advantages of democracy, freedom of the press and other liberal offerings and virtues. We often use them all too timidly. Above all, I miss the socio-political commitment to important issues of politics, society or economics that is present right now. It seems as if we want to surrender to the mediocrity of politics, parties and the state, freely according to the motto: "It's no use anyway, they do what they want anyway. I'm afraid we will feel this mentality drastically in the upcoming EU elections in the form of the lowest voter turnout ever.
 
Completely upside down world Turkey
 
A short flight from us, a "stone's throw" away from the seemingly lush prosperous country of Austria, basic democratic rights are being trampled underfoot. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is well on his way to proclaiming himself dictator. To distract attention from the political shortcomings of his government and the corruption allegations of his clan and family members, he forcefully pulls the apparent trump cards of an intolerant ruler. With his "Twitter ban" he set an unprecedented act of eliminating the freedom of the press. In doing so, he merely created a "belly laugh" that was laughed at everywhere - because the new social media are not so easy to trick or turn off. I can occupy a print medium or a television station, arrest the editors and thus prevent unwelcome reporting. That's what all dictators have done up to now. Those days are thankfully over. The new social media are more complex, more democratic, closer to the country and its people, and more committed than a political regime. You can't turn off Facebook, Twitter and the like at the push of a button. This is good at the moment and will hopefully lead Turkey to better times.
 

Campaign for freedom of the press
 
Freedom of the press is not something that can be taken for granted. Where you have it, you have to defend it every day - where you don't have it, you have to fight for it with fire. In Austria, we seem to be on an island of the blessed, but just a stone's throw away, as I said, the clocks tick differently.

In order to point this out, Reichl und Partner created a campaign for press freedom years ago on behalf of the VÖZ (Association of Austrian Newspaper Publishers). This award-winning campaign is (unfortunately) more topical than ever.