Following the European News Media Forum, the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), including the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), drafted a submission to the European Commission as part of their proposed Recommendations on the Safety of Journalists. The EFJ contributed to the MFRR submission (see PDF below) providing information and recommendations to the European Commission concerning the safety of journalists and media workers. This will feed into a recommendation to the Member States announced in the European Democracy Action Plan, which will seek to ensure better and targeted implementation of a number of requirements set out in the Council of…

WEBINARS Trust in media Audience Engagement & Artificial Intelligence The Online Seminars on 25 and 26 March are moving closer. We have already updated the agenda and preliminary reading suggestions list. Now we would like to introduce you to our confirmed speakers who will join for the two days of discussions. The seminars will take place on two days: On the first day, Thursday 25 March, experts will be dealing with the question of how to regain trust and improve audience engagements. On the second day, Friday  26 March, panelists will discuss the topic of innovations in the newsrooms, covering how media…

More and more journalists and civil society organisations are being sued by powerful businessmen and politicians via strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPP). The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has joined a coalition of 87 organisations calling on the EU to ensure those with a watchdog role are protected from such gag lawsuits. The English version of the following Op-ed was published on EURACTIV on 16 November 2020. The full list of signatories is to be found at the bottom. One hot spring afternoon in Malta, a journalist drove up to her house to find a court marshall duct-taping hundreds of sheets…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined 11 European journalist and press freedom groups in condemning brazen defamation case. We, the undersigned organisations, today express our grave concern over the barrage of vexatious defamation lawsuits targeting journalists working for the investigative news website Necenzurirano in Slovenia over the last two months. As outlined in a media freedom alert issued by the Council of Europe, since August journalists Primož Cirman, Vesna Vukovic and Tomaž Modic have each had 13 different criminal lawsuits lodged against them by Rok Snežić, a tax expert and unofficial financial advisor to Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša, bringing the total…

The political interference at Index, one of the last independent news outlets in Hungary, requires a strong reaction from the leaders of the European Union. The move contravenes the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, which is a legally binding charter. The EU should feel responsible: issued on Thursday, the EU Media Pluralism Monitor (MPM2020) states that “EU-funds are constantly used to finance pro-government media and spread anti-EU messages” in Hungary. Inaction on behalf of the EU leaders allows Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to tighten his authoritarian grip. Yesterday, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) together with its Media Freedom Rapid…

Download the policy paper The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined 118 other organisations to demand an EU set of anti-SLAPP measures. The problem: gag lawsuits against public interest defenders The EU must end gag lawsuits used to silence individuals and organisations that hold those in positions of power to account. Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP) are lawsuits brought forward by powerful actors (e.g. companies, public officials in their private capacity, high profile persons) to harass and silence those speaking out in the public interest. Typical victims are those with a watchdog role, for instance: journalists, activists, informal associations,…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), as a partner of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), joined press freedom and freedom of expression organisations, journalists’ organisations, journalists and media workers to condemn threats against journalists in Northern Ireland. We, the undersigned, condemn the threats made by the South East Antrim Ulster Defence Association (UDA) against journalists at the Sunday Life and Sunday World in Northern Ireland. Early in the morning of 8 May, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) visited the homes of a number of journalists to warn them about credible threats, including threats of physical violence against their colleagues…

On this World Press Freedom Day, the undersigned organisations honour those who work tirelessly to help keep the public informed and call for robust support for independent journalism. Millions of people around the world are looking for reliable, fact-based, and gender-sensitive journalism that can help them navigate the biggest shared challenge of our lifetime. The need for trustworthy information has never been greater and more urgent than during this pandemic. Access to timely, high-quality information is imperative during a global health crisis; it is one of the key pillars required to slow the spread of this virus, mitigate its impacts,…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) welcomes the Council of Europe’s call on member governments to protect free flow of information in times of crisis. The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Marija Pejčinović Burić, wrote to the EFJ and other members of the Council of Europe Platform for the protection of journalism and safety of journalists in response to our call for determined actions to protect free flow of information to tackle COVID-19. In her letter, Ms Pejčinović Burić states that “extraordinary measures may introduce restrictions to a number of rights, including freedom of expression, but these must remain lawful, proportional to the threat…

Several Members of the European Parliament (MEP) urged Maltese Primer Minister, Joseph Muscat, to resign “now”. In a resolution adopted on 18 December, the European Parliament expressed its concern about the “integrity and credibility” of the investigations related to the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia. It stressed that “any risk of compromising the investigations (…) must be excluded by all means” and warned that this risk will persist for “as long as the Prime Minister remains in office”. MEPs also called on the new Commission “to enter into dialogue with the Maltese Government in the context of the Rule of Law Framework…

Download the report This report reflects the initial findings of the joint mission to Hungary carried out by the International Press Institute (IPI), Article 19, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), Free Press Unlimited (FPU) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF). These findings are additionally supported by the South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO). The mission took place from November 25 to 27, during which time the delegation met with a wide range of Hungarian journalists from Budapest and other cities as well as civil society…

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) have today welcomed the pre-trial release of RIA Novosti journalist, Kirill Vyshinsky, in Kyiv, Ukraine. The release came after the IFJ-EFJ have expressed several times their concerns over the long-lasting pre-trial detention of Vyshinsky. In May 2018, the Ukrainian security services raided the office of RIA Novosti in Ukraine and arrested its bureau chief and journalist, Kirill Vyshinsky, on charges of high treason. In July 2018, Vyshinsky was given additional charges of illegal handling of weapons. His pre-trial detention has been extended several times. On 19 July 2019, Vyshynsky appeared…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) together with a group of media freedom NGOs have published an open letter to the representatives of the Maltese Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) members. The letter was published ahead of a meeting of the PACE Legal Affairs and Human Rights Committee in Paris which was attended by national representatives of the Council of Europe members. It called on the Maltese government to support the findings of an investigation led by Mr. Pieter Omtzigt, the Special rapporteur appointed by PACE to investigate the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia. The letter reads,…

Both in France and the UK, freelance media workers have joined forces to tackle the unlawful working practices of media owners. They demand the end of payment on publication, to be paid for all their work, not just on the basis of what has been published, only after it has been published. They also expect to receive payments promptly, instead of enduring huge delays and being left out of pocket. Media workers are under pressure from employers who are cutting editorial budgets, slashing jobs and undermining trade union organisations. Many journalists have been forced into what we call “fake freelance”…

Washington Post – 4 Media Organizations Ask Albania to Drop Online Media Laws (26.12.18) New York Times – 4 Media Organizations Ask Albania to Drop Online Media Laws (26.12.18) Europe1 – “Gilets jaunes” : les syndicats de journalistes dénoncent des “dérapages” de la police (12.12.18) L’OBS – Les syndicats de journalistes dénoncent des “dérapages inadmissibles” de la police (10.12.18) Le Monde – « Gilets jaunes » : des « dérapages inadmissibles » de la police envers des journalistes samedi (10.12.18) RTBF – Au Bout du Jour – Séquence DDH: Ricardo Gutiérrez (audio) (05.12.2018) RTBF – J’peux pas, j’ai climat”: les journalistes, des manifestants comme les autres? (4.12.2018) Diario de Noticias…

On 17 April 2018, the European Commission presented the proposal for a Regulation on European production and preservation orders for electronic evidence in criminal matters (COM(2018) 225 final). The European Commission’s proposal aims at providing judicial authorities in European Member States with a tool to request the production or preservation of electronic data stored in a different Member State via production and/or preservation orders needed for investigation and prosecution purposes in crimes identified by the proposal. The proposal would allow the competent authorities in the issuing Member State to directly approach service providers based in an EU Member State to…