Journalists across the European Union face escalating harassment, violence, and legal intimidation, while media ownership is consolidating in fewer hands and public trust in news outlets has sharply declined, according to the fifth annual media freedom report from the Civil Liberties Union for Europe (Liberties), a leading pan-European rights organisation. The report documents 377 serious online attacks against journalists in 2025, bomb attacks targeting investigative reporters in Greece and Italy, and record levels of pro-government airtime in Hungary, where outgoing Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's allies control a majority of outlets; it also flags deepening political interference in public broadcasters in Slovakia and funding cuts to public media in France, Germany, and Belgium. Liberties warned that key EU legislation meant to address these threats — including the European Media Freedom Act and an anti-SLAPP directive designed to curb abusive lawsuits used to silence reporters — is being transposed into national law too slowly, leaving journalists and democratic oversight mechanisms dangerously exposed.