Media Freedom Coalition

Baroness Coussins Excerpts

Monday 17th March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

I congratulate the noble Lord on his efforts. He is absolutely right. From 2019, he and I worked closely in supporting media freedom, and I continue to do so. We are absolutely committed to building and extending the coalition, as I tried to do at the General Assembly of the UN. The current co-chairs are Germany and Estonia. We are working with them to develop the membership.

I stress, as I did last week in New York and at UNGA, extending the voice of media freedom to the workers, particularly journalists. We are working with the International Federation of Journalists and the NUJ in this country to ensure that it is not just government voices but the voices of civil society that are focused on protecting freedom of information and media freedom.

[Baroness Coussins (CB)]

My Lords, what specific measures are His Majesty’s Government taking in response to the serious escalation in the harassment of and threats towards BBC Persian staff by the Iranian authorities, including the journalists who are based here in London and their families in Iran?

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

As the noble Baroness knows, from the beginning we have been focused on this, making very strong representations. We have been working with the Home Office to ensure that there is no intimidation of those journalists who are residing here, as well as ensuring the protection of journalists in Iran. She raises a really important point. This is why the media coalition is so effective in ensuring that a range of countries add their voices.