On 18 May 2026, the European Parliament published its draft position on the new AgoraEU programme, which constitutes the EU’s support for culture, media, and civil society within the Multiannual Financial Framework for the period 2028-2034 – the EU’s long-term budget. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) warns that the proposed budget allocation for journalism does not go far enough to match the scale of ambition outlined in the regulation and is a worrying sign of a lack of political ambition to meaningfully fund European journalism. The Parliament’s proposal creates a separate ‘Journalism and Information’ strand, which in principle could…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined its affiliates in Germany (dju in ver.di), Poland (Society of Journalists) and Switzerland (syndicom) in calling on the German Springer Group and the Swiss publisher Ringier to abandon their plans to cut jobs at their Polish joint venture, Ringier Axel Springer Polska (RASP).  According to information obtained by the dju, the company intends to reduce its workforce by almost 12%. With 1,350 employees, this could result in around 160 redundancies, despite RASP paying out 161 million zloty (around 37.86 million euros) to its shareholders in 2024. Against this backdrop, the planned redundancies are…

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) yesterday ordered Meta to compensate Italian publishers for the use of their content. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) welcomes an important ruling which upholds the right of Member States to require fair remuneration for the online use of press publications by service providers. The judgement, issued in a case between Meta and Italy’s media regulator AGCOM, concerns the transposition into Italian law of EU rules on press publishers’ rights. The Court confirmed that EU copyright law allows Member States to establish mechanisms ensuring fair remuneration for the use of press…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) welcomes the Council of the European Union’s position on the new AgoraEU programme, adopted on 12 May by EU Culture Ministers, as an important step towards recognising journalism, media freedom, and democratic participation as core pillars of Europe’s democratic resilience. The EFJ calls for this political momentum to be translated into the allocation of substantial financial resources to public-interest media. The proposed AgoraEU programme, which forms part of the Multiannual Financial Framework (2028-2034), would bring together EU support for culture, media, and civil society under a single framework and includes, for the first time,…

EU Member States must show political leadership and join calls for the suspension of EU funds to Serbia to prevent the spiral of violence against journalists from escalating into deadly attacks, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and nine undersigned organisations said on Friday in a series of letters sent to a group of Ministers for European Affairs across Europe. The organisations highlight the shocking numbers of physical, legal and online attacks against journalists as recorded on international monitoring platforms since November 2024, a level of persistent violence against media that is rare in any EU member state or candidate country. Since the…

On this Europe Day, media organisations and journalists across the continent, including the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) come together to reaffirm their shared commitment to a strong, democratic, and united Europe. Europe is facing profound and complex challenges. At a time when anti-democratic forces are gaining ground globally, and disinformation threatens to erode trust within our societies, the role of independent, pluralistic media has never been more essential. Europe is more than a political or economic project. It is a shared promise – of peace, freedom, democracy, and human dignity. For millions of people, it remains the strongest guarantee…

The 7th of May 2026 marks the deadline for EU Member States to transpose the EU Anti-SLAPP Directive, also known as Daphne’s law. As we mark this landmark, however, the European Anti-SLAPP Monitor shows a fragmented and uneven picture for transposition across Europe, as the deadline is being missed by nearly all Member States. While the Anti-SLAPP Directive marked a significant step forward in protecting journalists and media from abusive litigation, its implementation at the national level remains alarmingly incomplete. Although there are some positive examples, the majority of states are seriously lagging behind and others have made no progress at…

Since the contested parliamentary elections in October 2024, Georgia has experienced one of the most rapid and serious deteriorations of press freedom ever seen in an EU member state or candidate country, Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) partners warn today. As we mark World Press Freedom Day 2026, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and its partners once again draws attention to the plight of independent media and journalists in Georgia, where the Russia-friendly ruling party has continued its intensifying clampdown over the past year. Our thoughts today are particularly with jailed journalist Mzia Amaglobeli, who has now been behind…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) welcomes the letter sent today by 61 Members of the European Parliament calling on the European Union leadership to make stronger calls for foreign journalist access to Gaza. The letter, addressed to Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, Kaja Kallas, high representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, as well as EU member states, says that security can no longer be invoked by Israel as justification to deny access. It asks for access to be a key demand in bilateral relations with Israel and to use all possible…

To mark World Press Freedom Day, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and its partners from the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) are publishing today an analysis of six years of monitoring data that reveals, in granular detail, the most serious challenges and trends threatening freedom of the press in Europe. The MFRR consortium first began comprehensive monitoring in 2020 and has become the largest public database of media freedom violations in Europe. Our Mapping Media Freedom (MapMF) platform has now recorded 6092 media freedom violations in Europe affecting more than 10,200 different journalists and media-related entities in EU Member States…

Public Service Media (PSM) in Europe are under unprecedented attacks: from Finland to Italy, by way of France, Slovakia, Lithuania and Czech Republic – you name it. On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day (#WPFD2026), the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) advocates for public service media as critical democratic infrastructure emphasising that their quality, independence, and robust funding are indispensable for fostering informed and pluralistic debates. It is a domino effect that has been unfolding before our eyes for several years now: European governments are trying to weaken, undermine or exert greater political control over public service media. Almost…

Today, on World Press Freedom Day, 22 journalists are still behind bars in Belarus. The situation with freedom of speech in Belarus remains the worst in Europe. Since the sweeping repression that began in 2020, hundreds of Belarusian media workers have endured detention, arrest, and persecution. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins its affiliates the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) in calling for the release of all Belarusian journalists. Recently, several well-known journalists were released. But we worry about those who remain behind bars. In February and March of this year, after large-scale releases of political prisoners, several media…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins the undersigned organisations in strongly condemning the intensifying use of Article 217/A of the Turkish Penal Code — widely known as the “disinformation law” — to arrest, detain, and prosecute journalists, and calling on the government to repeal the provision immediately and release all journalists imprisoned under it. Since the law entered into force in October 2022, at least 83 journalists have been charged 114 times over disinformation according to news reports. The scale of Article 217/A’s use against journalists has been starkly illustrated in a recent article. The two journalists most frequently…

By Zoran Pehar, Trade Union of Croatian Journalists Can self-employed workers strike? Can they secure their rights through a collective agreement? How can unions protect them? And should we work with artificial intelligence or against it? Over the past two years, the project “Building stronger Unions in the Media, Arts & Entertainment Sector to Tackle the Challenges of Freelance Work, AI and Sectoral Change” has sought answers to these questions. The project is relevant to the wider cultural and creative sector, where Eurostat records around 2.5 million self-employed workers in the EU, and especially to the narrower group of creative…

A new government bill which would overhaul the funding model for the Czech public media risks financially weakening the broadcasters, eroding safeguards for their financial independence and violating European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), the undersigned Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) partners, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and other media freedom, journalist and freedom of expression organisations warn today. Our organisations call on the European Commission to closely assess this bill regarding its compatibility with Article 5 of EMFA and to ensure that no reforms are undertaken which threaten the financial, editorial or institutional independence of the Czech public media.…