European Civic Forum: “No Day Without Us”

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the World Human Rights’ day. Monday 10 December 2018 from 10:00 to 11:00 Press Club Brussels Europe, rue Froissart 95 70 years ago, it has been acknowledged that human rights are universal and indivisible, that freedom of expression, of assembly, right to demonstrate, to migrate, to live in peace, and access to education, healthcare, housing, work, right to leave your country, … were rights for all. Civil society is crucial to protect our European democracies and values against the raising illiberalism. On the one hand, it makes access to rights a reality for…

Dutch journalists sign agreement to improve safety of journalists

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  • 05-12-2018

The Journalists’ Association of the Netherlands (NVJ) has signed an important agreement to improve the safety of journalists. The Agreement of the Steering Group on Aggression and violence against Journalists, was negotiated by the NVJ with he Dutch Minister of justice, the GP-office and the National Police. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) congratulated its affiliate NVJ for achieving this important agreement. The EFJ says, “The agreement is the first of its kind as it signifies the cooperation between the public authorities, journalists and the media with the aim to protect the safety of journalists. ” “Journalists are facing increasing attacks…

EFJ and press freedom groups to carry out solidarity visit to Slovakia

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and eight leading international press freedom organizations representing the Council of Europe’s Platform to promote the protection of journalism and the safety of journalists, gathered for a semi-annual meeting in Vienna, will conduct a brief solidarity visit to Bratislava, Slovakia on the afternoon of Thursday, December 6, 2018. The groups will highlight the need for further progress in the investigation into the murder of investigative journalist Ján Kuciak. Representatives of the nine organizations will hold a meeting with Slovak government officials and conduct a solidarity visit to the offices of Aktuality.sk, where Jan Kuciak…

EFJ and international NGOs condemn continued lack of justice for Daphne Caruana Galizia

Nine international freedom of expression, press freedom, and professional journalists’ organisations, including the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), condemn the lack of justice for the assassination of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia a full year after three arrests were made in connection with the case. Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed by a car bomb that detonated near her home in Bidnija, Malta on 16 October 2017. On 4 December 2017, 10 people were arrested in connection with Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder, of whom three men were charged with murder, the criminal use of explosives, criminal conspiracy, and involvement in organised…

The art of living with the media

Is Europe more or less media literate? What does it mean to be a human being in the current digital era? Are citizens more distracted consumers and manipulated citizens? How to pay attention to online distractions and be in control of your own media use? Despite the opportunities that new technologies offer in terms of facilitating meaningful connection and proactive civil engagement, educational initiatives have been slow to catch up and policies even more so. In light of recent political and cultural events, media literacy is now coming to the fore. EAVI is well placed to discuss which skills are necessary to use the media as…

Turkish court upheld prison sentences for 5 journalists

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  • 03-12-2018
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The European and International Federations of Journalists (EFJ-IFJ) strongly condemn the confirmation of prison sentences for five journalists by the Third Penal Chamber of the İstanbul Regional Court of Justice in Turkey. In the lawsuit filed against five journalists for participating in the Editors-in-Chief on Watch campaign that was launched in solidarity with Özgür Gündem, a Kurdish daily newspaper, which was subsequently banned per the Statutory Decree no. 675, the İstanbul 13th Heavy Penal Court gave its verdict for Ayşe Düzkan, Ragıp Duran, columnists of the newspaper Mehmet Ali Çelebi and Hüseyin Bektaş and its former Co-Editor-in-Chief Hüseyin Aykol on January…

Council of Europe debates “quality journalism” and safety of journalists

Meeting in Strasbourg on 27-30 November, the Council of Europe Steering Committee on Media and Information Society (CDMSI) went through the details of a draft “Declaration on the financial sustainability of quality journalism in the digital age”. The text proposes for example to create “redistribution mechanisms between online platforms and media companies” and to “support measures to counter the progressive deterioration of the working conditions of journalists”. Most of the discussion was dedicated to the preamble of the draft Declaration: whereas most delegations agreed that “quality journalism extends the range of diverse, credible, interesting and timely information available to the…

Finnish trade union coalition demands more bargaining power for self-employed workers

On 20th November,  a trade union coalition called Itset, representing self-employed workers, has published a list of goals to improve the situation of self-employed workers ahead of the Finish parliamentary elections in April 2019. Many unions, NGOs and other interest groups are now drafting and publishing their manifestos. Itset, who represents all three Finish trade union confederations including the Union of Journalists in Finland (UJF) , recognizes lack of fair compensation and contracts for freelancers, as well as the fact that the current legal definition of employment is too narrow. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins its affiliate, the UJF, in…

Italy: increasing attacks against status of journalists

On 27 November, Italian MEP Isabella De Monte (S&D) organised the event “The challenges of European Journalism”, taking as an example the recent problems of Italian journalism, such as politicians’ attempts to undermine public media credibility and the difficult economic situation of Italian journalists and media, to discuss about the more widespread attacks to free press throughout Europe. An issue that has to be addressed right now before the European elections with disinformation on the rise said De Monte. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) was represented by its director Renate Schroeder, participating together with Raffaele Lorusso, general secretary of the affiliate Federazione Nazionale della Stampa…

Hungary: new pro-government media conglomerate threatens pluralism

The European and International Federations of Journalists (EFJ-IFJ) join their affiliates in Hungary, HPU and MUOSZ, in calling on Hungarian authorities to obstruct the formation of a huge media conglomerate that questions media pluralism. The owners of a majority of Hungary’s pro-government media outlets said Wednesday they are donating their companies to a foundation, the “Central European Press and Media Foundation”. This new right-wing media conglomerate will include cable news channels, online news portals, tabloid and sports newspapers and all of Hungary’s county newspapers, several radio stations and numerous magazines. Among the media companies to be under its control are Echo Penisola Ltd.…

Risks for media pluralism and safety of journalists are increasing across Europe

The Media Pluralism Monitor (MPM) has examined 28 European Union Member States as well as three candidate countries: Turkey, Serbia and Macedonia. The results of this second EU-wide implementation of the MPM show either general stagnation or deterioration in all of the major areas encompassed by the MPM and confirm that no country analysed is free from risks to media pluralism. The Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom (CMPF), based in Florence, has just published its 2017 Media Pluralism Monitor reports (#MPM2017). Year 2017 was marked by events that have had a significant impact on media freedom and media…

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