European Federation of Journalists

Journalists’ and press freedom organisations welcome start of trial in Kuciak murder

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  •   17-01-2020

The undersigned international and regional press freedom and journalism groups welcome the start of the murder trial this week against the suspected killers of Slovak journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée, Martina Kušnírova. The suspects on trial at the Specialized Criminal Court in Pezinok, Slovakia, include the alleged mastermind, Slovak businessman Marian Kočner, who prosecutors say ordered Kuciak’s murder in retaliation for his journalistic work. A confidante of Kočner’s, Alena Zsuzsová, is charged with having arranged the murder via a middleman, Zoltán Andruskó, who in turn contracted two alleged hitmen, cousins Tomáš Szabó and Miroslav Marček. Andruskó previously admitted guilt…

Italy: Outrage over Sanremo festival presenter’s sexist comments on public TV

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  •   17-01-2020

The presenter of the Italian Sanremo 2020 festival, broadcast by the Italian public television RAI, caused a wave of indignation in Italy after he praised his co-hosts with sexist comments. The presenter of the Sanremo music festival, Amedeo Umberto Rita Sebastiani, also known as Amadeus, introduced his co-hosts saying they were chosen for being “very beautiful” and referring to one of them as a “sexy icon”. He added that Francesca Sofia Novello, who is a model, is a “super beautiful” woman, and praised “her ability to be close to a great man (in reference to Valentino Rossi, her partner) by…

Call for initiatives – Stars4Media exchange and training programme for young media professionals

SEE BELOW DEADLINES TO APPLY Application form Are you a young media professional eager to gain skills, boost your career, test your ideas, and expand your network? Stars4Media is an exchange and training programme for young media professionals (“rising stars”) between cooperating media organisations, to accelerate media innovation and cross-border coverage in Europe.  Stars4Media will encourage innovation through skill-building activities between paired media organisations to test ideas, produce contents and develop initiatives around 4 strategic themes.  Who are we looking for ? Participants of this project will be young working media professionals (“rising stars”) with 2-10 years of media experience,…

Albania: Journalists’ association pushes President to veto “censorship” law

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  •   15-01-2020

The President of Albania, Ilir Meta, has vetoed a proposed law that would stifle online media following the pressure from the Association of Professional Journalists of Albania (APJA), who denounced the bill as “authoritarian”. The International and European Federation of Journalists (IFJ/EFJ) welcomed the decision, stressing that anti-defamation laws must not be used as tools to restrain press freedom. The proposed amendments to the Law on Audiovisual Media and the Law on Electronic Communications would have granted new government bodies such as the Albanian Media Authority (AMA) and Albanian Communication and Postal Authorities (AKEP), the power to instantly block media…

Getting real about diversity and talent: 10 recommendations

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  •   14-01-2020
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Europe’s newsrooms are still predominantly white and middle class, though societies are changing at rapid speed. How to better reflect all members of the increasingly diverse European societies within Europe’s Media and public sphere is crucial; the issue of diversity and gender is and important element in EFJ’s project work. The European Federation of Journalists has published a new report about how to get newsrooms and editorial teams more diverse. As part of the EFJ project ‘Managing change in media’, supported by the European Commission, one of its contributors, Alexandra Borchardt, drafted ten recommendations for newsrooms to be more diverse,…

UK: BBC journalist wins landmark equal pay case

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  •   10-01-2020

BBC presenter and National Union of journalists (NUJ) member Samira Ahmed today won a landmark equal pay victory against the BBC. The European and International Federation of Journalists (EFJ-IFJ) congratulate her and the NUJ for its excellent and inspiring work and hope this victory will encourage all women journalists seeking equal pay to make sure they are in a union and media employers to learn the lessons. Journalist Samira Ahmed, backed by the NUJ, first appeared at The Central London Employment Tribunal on Monday 28 October to challenge unequal pay at the BBC. The journalist has been presenting the BBC…

Spain: EFJ-IFJ stand for the defence of Madrid’s public broadcasting service

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  •   10-01-2020

The European and International Federations of Journalists (EFJ and IFJ) join their Spanish affiliate Federación de Servicios a la Ciudadanía de CC.OO. in the call for the defence of Madrid’s public service broadcaster RTVM (Telemadrid and Onda Madrid) from the blocking situation its management is suffering by the regional government. The Government of the Community of Madrid has not been allowing the replacement of medical leaves for months, it has not yet authorised the broadcasting of women’s sport or second division football matches that have been taking place since 2017, nor has it approved the expense accepted in the Program Contract for…

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