To mark International Women’s Day on 8 March, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins partners of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) today in publishing alarming data highlighting how women journalists across Europe continue to face enhanced risk through systematic gender-based violence in the past year. Our 2025 monitoring documented 53 cases of gender-based violence targeting women media professionals across EU Member States and candidate countries, including online smear campaigns, threats of sexual violence and derogatory comments about physical appearance. This data, recorded on the MFRR’s Mapping Media Freedom platform, reaffirms that women journalists are disproportionately affected by gender-based…

A recent defamation decision by the Court of Appeal in North Macedonia against the Investigative Reporting Lab (IRL) is a worrying development for media freedom in the country which should be overturned on further appeal, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and organisations of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) said today. At a public hearing before the Court of Appeal in Skopje on 26 February, the court ruled against IRL’s appeal and upheld the defamation verdict previously handed down to the media outlet and its editor-in-chief Saška Cvetkovska. IRL is an independent and non-profit investigative media platform and a local partner of the Organized…

Press freedom continued to be under sustained pressure in Europe in 2025, driven by legal threats, physical attacks and intimidation, attempts of media capture and transnational repression, according to the annual report of the partner organisations to the Council of Europe’s Platform to promote the protection of journalism and safety of journalists, of which the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) is a member. This situation was mitigated by initiatives in several states and at the European level to improve press freedom and journalists’ safety, including the adoption of action plans to protect journalists and legislation in some countries to address…

Authors’ texts are indispensable for AI Large Language Models, but they receive no compensation. The Dutch Writers’ Guild (Auteursbond), the Dutch Association of Journalists (NVJ) and the Lira Foundation have sent a formal demand letter to Meta, the parent company of Facebook and developer of the AI model Llama. In the letter, they request that Meta immediately cease the unlawful use of copyrighted work of Dutch writers, translators and journalists in the training of its AI models. According to Liesbet van Zoonen, president of the Auteursbond: “We are not opposed to Large Language Models, but the AI industry is a…

By Isa Myzyraj, Journalist and Chairperson of the Association of Journalists of Albania (AJA) For more than a decade, dozens of journalists and media outlets in Albania have been dragged through the country’s criminal courts, accused mainly of defamation and insult. At first glance, these are provisions that protect individual reputation. In practice, they have been transformed into instruments of pressure and intimidation against the media. In the overwhelming majority of cases, criminal lawsuits have not been initiated by ordinary citizens seeking protection from defamation, but by politicians, high public officials, and companies with economic power. The purpose has not…

As Ukraine marks four full years since Russia’s full-scale invasion, the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) has launched a renewed fundraising campaign to sustain its network of six Journalists’ Solidarity Centers — safety hubs that enable Ukrainian and foreign journalists to continue reporting under wartime conditions. The European and International Federations of Journalists (EFJ/IFJ) support the NUJU campaign and invite journalists’ organisations and citizens who are able to do so to make a donation. Established in 2022 with the support of the IFJ/EFJ Safety Fund, the Centers have become a model of “safety spaces” for journalists operating in…