Hundreds of international media companies issued a statement on Tuesday accusing the British Conservative Party of undermining press freedom by charging journalists to cover their annual conference. The French press agency 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 about this.
The declaration has been signed by a total of nearly three hundred media companies from more than sixty countries, including China and Russia.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s ruling party demanded compensation from media in exchange for accreditation for the first time at last year’s conference. This year again, media must pay 137 pounds (160 euros) to report on the conference that will take place in October in Manchester. If they apply after August 1, the costs will even be increased to 880 pounds (more than 1,000 euros).
“Dangerous precedent”
“In effect, this decision sets a dangerous precedent for countries around the world that will use this decision to justify financial and other barriers to media coverage of the political process,” the statement read. “We therefore call on the organizers of the Tory party conference to scrap or refund costs and to allow fair and free reporting.”
The party itself claims that the costs are necessary to cover administrative costs for the “thousands” of journalists who do not show up. However, the Foreign Press Association of UK-based foreign media says the party has not produced any evidence that journalists are failing on such a scale.
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