How free should enemy media be in wartime?

What do the Volt political party, the South Axis offices and the Russian state channels RT and Sputnik have in common? Over the past few days, they have led the authorities to make decisions that have been quite off-balance. Perhaps not so much because of the content, although you can also differ enormously about that, but mainly because of the person who made the decision. Was it really up to Brussels to collectively deny European citizens access to foreign state channels, both via cable and internet? Wouldn’t that just as well have been decided at Member State level, if that had been a good idea? Such a drastic media ban has no precedent, at least I don’t know it. It also remained very quiet in the House, the combination of EU and censorship was apparently not interesting for a while. Because Russia bah, isn’t it.

Is it also up to a summary judge to force a parliamentary group to take back a suspended member? In case of labor disputes in parliamentary groups, should the judge not stay far away from the political question of what the composition of a group should be? And, for dessert, the mayor of Amsterdam is allowed eleven large law firms invite to town hall for ‘explanation’ about their (Russian) clientele, out of concern about the ‘prestige’ of the city? Or does it give the impression that the city council wants to have a say in the selection of clients to whom lawyers may or may not give advice? I assume that soon the trust and the large accountancy firms will also be able to explain how their international consultancy work can be reconciled with the ‘prestige’ of the city. Or is that another view that is welcome. Or wash. I may also have an opinion about the choice of those clients, but that does not mean that I would like to see the government involved in this at the same time. The legal profession would first have to agree on this, possibly followed by the legislator, who has been learning quickly about Russian interests in their own country in recent weeks.

They are three quite different cases that occurred within the same week. But they did raise similar questions about who is responsible for what in a democratic constitutional state, based on the separation of powers. The constitutional state must also rely on a firm role, self-discipline and awareness of constitutional relationships. Where does self-regulation end, where does the legislator, the administrator, start, where does the judge stop, what does ‘Brussels’ leave to the capitals. Proportionality (a reasonable ratio between means and ends) is the starting point. But also subsidiarity (making decisions at the right level, which are not more drastic than necessary). That requires a cool head.

Due to the war in Ukraine, these are nervous times, in which Russian interests are rapidly ‘cancelled’. The mainly strategic attitude of NATO and the EU seems to be effectively compensated elsewhere. Ranging from a stone through the window of a random ‘Russian’ supermarket, to symbolically refusing to play Stravinsky, to profound sanctions. ‘Cause it’s war.

In that spectacle, the closure of RT and Sputnik went too far for me. Wasn’t freedom of expression correct that ‘unwelcome opinions’ are in principle welcome? According to the European Court in Strasbourg, aren’t opinions permissible by definition that shock, hurt and disturb? Am I not allowed to continue to judge what I think of foreign channels? And then one afternoon a European regulation suddenly flies in that justifies a media ban as an economic sanction? That will only be lifted when the conflict is over or they ‘stop propaganda against the EU’. So according to Europe. So this is one of those war measures that replaces freedom with government control. No thanks. I want to keep making those choices myself.

Or am I wrong and in an information war between states with hardcore campaigns, permanent brainwashing and brutal manipulations are the enemy media vehicles obvious targets? Block to avoid destabilizing liberal information societies? I feel it as a slippery slope.