33 EFJ members, unionists and media owners met in Istanbul, Turkey, and showed great commitment to develop their own collective bargaining and membership recruitment tactics and strategies. The 1.5-day workshop was organised by the EFJ and the Turkish Union of Journalists (TGS), one of the partners of the Stand Up for Journalists (SUJ) project. The union has attracted new young members and has had successful collective agreements, despite the worsening situation for press freedomand journalists’ working conditions in Turkey.  Speaking at the opening session, TGS President Gökhan Durmuş shared the struggle of journalists fighting for media freedom and better working…

The international media freedom mission to Croatia has highlighted several significant concerns regarding media law reform, transparency of state advertising, and the safety of journalists including SLAPPs. While some promising initiatives have been noted, the path is still long ahead for Croatia to ensure a free and independent media landscape.  The Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) consortium concluded an onlinefact-finding mission to Croatia. Between 9 and 20 September 2024, the delegation met with the Ministry of Culture and Media, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of the Interior, an MP from the political party We Can!, the Agency for Electronic Media,…

The Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) consortium completed a two-day mission to Poland, 16-17 September, where it held meetings with the Minister of Justice, Adam Bodnar, the Ministry of Culture as well as journalists, publishers, regulators, media law experts. The mission focused on measures to reform public service media, to protect journalists from Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs), and proposals to reform the media landscape in line with the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA). The meetings discussed the changes within the public service media since the Civic Coalition-led government of Donald Tusk used contested legal mechanisms to remove senior…

The International and the European Federations of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) and its affiliate the German Journalists Union (dju) in ver.di sent a letter to the management of Bauer Media Group Poland, on 19 September, following the failure of the last conciliatory stage over pay dispute with union representatives from Inicjatywa Pracownicza (“Workers’ Initiative”).  The IFJ, EFJ and dju urge the management to reconsider workers specific demands and engage in open consultation and discussion with the union’s representatives, before workers have no choice but to take strike action.

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins the undersigned press freedom and freedom of expression groups in strongly condemning the ongoing and intensifying threats against prominent Turkish journalist Murat Ağırel. We are deeply alarmed by the persistent pattern of intimidation, surveillance, and death threats targeting Ağırel, which represent a severe assault on press freedom and the safety of journalists in Turkey. These threats and acts of intimidation are not isolated incidents but part of a broader, systemic issue affecting press freedom in Turkey, where independent journalists frequently face significant risks in their pursuit of truth. We urgently call on the…

The Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) consortium expresses its full support for Greek journalist Stavroula Poulimeni and media outlet Alterthess ahead of their appeal on 19 September 2024. Today’s hearing follows a court ruling that partially upheld a civil lawsuit demanding damages over Poulimeni’s report on the conviction of two Hellas Gold executives for water pollution – which were overturned in 2022, as the journalist also reported at the time.  In 2023, Alterthess was ordered to pay €3,000 to one of the company’s executives for reporting his court conviction in October 2020. The judge ruled that, despite the conviction being…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and its Montenegrin affiliate, the Trade Union of Media in Montenegro (SMCG), express concerns about the way the Director-General of the Public Service RTCG has been elected on 31 August 2024. The organisations call on all relevant institutions, primarily the Labor Inspectorate, to take action as soon as possible to clarify the situation in which Boris Raonić has become the Director-General of the Public Service for the third time. The Montenegrin parliamentarians ignored the appeals sent to them before the adoption of the amendments to the Law on RTCG, which were related to the…

On 15 September, Belarusian journalist Andrei Mialeshka was denied entry to Georgia, where he has lived for the past three years after facing political persecution in Belarus. On 17 September, Armenian journalist Arsen Kharatyan, editor-in-chief of an independent non-profit bilingual Georgian-Armenia media platform Aliq Media based in Tbilisi, was also denied entry to Georgia. The International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) condemn the denial of entry of both journalists and call on the Georgian authorities to uphold freedom of access for all journalists. Andrei Mialeshka was returning from Poland to Georgia with his daughter and was barred from entering…

From 23 to 24 September 2024, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) will be hosting a workshop entitled “Collective bargaining in though times” at the TGS Academy in Istanbul, as part of the Stand up for Journalism (SUJ) project. The workshop will address the different challenges related to collective bargaining, including the topics surrounding the digital age, with insightful speakers from all around Europe. This workshop is the first in a series of five 5 thematic, capacity-building workshops. The others will focus on online harassement and better protection of journalists, equal rights for freelancers, well-being and burnout in journalism and…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) welcomes the warning letter sent this week by European Commission Vice-President Vera Jourova to the Slovak authorities over the reform and political capture of the Slovak public broadcaster RTVS. The EFJ calls on the European Union to prepare infringement proceedings against Slovakia for non-compliance with Union law. On 30 June 2024, the Slovak President Peter Pellegrini enacted the new Law on Slovak Television and Radio, which entered into force on 1 July. Radio and Television Slovakia (RTVS) is changing to Slovak Television and Radio (STVR). In her letter to Slovak Culture Minister Martina Šimkovičová,…

With the adoption of the European minimum wage directive in 2022, all European countries are obliged to promote collective bargaining. On 23-24 September, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) will organise a workshop on collective bargaining in Istanbul as part of its Stand Up for Journalism (SUJ) project. The agenda of the workshop is availablehere. The European Union decided in 2022 to impose on its Member States a goal of 80% of collective bargaining coverage. The issue is that many of these countries still have a long way to go before they reach that percentage. For those who do not…

Negotiations between media companies Bauer Publishing House Poland and AKPA Agency, and union representatives from Inicjatywa Pracownicza (“Workers’ Initiative”) over pay rises and decent working conditions remain uncertain. The International and the European Federations of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) join its affiliate the German Journalists Union (dju) in ver.di in urging the management of the media group to address the union’s specific demands and ensure that the fundamental rights of the workers enshrined in Polish law are respected. Media companies Bauer Publishing House Poland and AKPA Agency, which is part of De Bauer Media Group Poland, a German international media group based…

The partners from the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) consortium today publish the latest edition of its Monitoring Report which documents and analyses all press freedom violations recorded on its platform Mapping Media Freedom in European Member States and candidate countries from January to June 2024. The report was produced by the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), and the International Press Institute (IPI). The latest Monitoring Report explores in detail the 756 media freedom violations recorded by the MFRR partners in the first half of 2024. These violations affected 1,212 media-related…

The Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) welcomes the 5 September ruling reopening the investigation into the crimes against journalist Emilia Șercan. This is a positive step towards addressing the harassment and intimidation she has faced for the last two years. This ruling comes after a long legal battle by Șercan to hold accountable those responsible for smear campaigns against her and leaking her private photos, following her reports on high-profile cases of plagiarism, including the President of the Romanian Senate, and former Prime Minister, Nicolae Ciucă.  The initial investigation produced a litany of errors, unnecessary delays, and breaches of procedure…

On 9 September, the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) will begin a press freedom mission to Croatia. The delegation will meet with government representatives, journalists and journalistic associations, civil society, and renowned media experts to discuss the most pressing challenges to media freedom and pluralism in the country. Between 9 and 20 September 2024, the MFRR partners will conduct an online fact-finding mission to Croatia with a special focus on the safety of journalists, the long-overdue and much-needed media law reforms, transparency in media ownership and state advertising, the use of strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) and other legal threats (including criminal…