The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the undersigned organisations – representing public service media, journalists, and press freedom organisations across Europe and globally – in calling on the Lithuanian authorities to ensure all outstanding recommendations of the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission on the Law on Lithuanian National Radio and Television are addressed. With this open letter, we call on the Lithuanian authorities, including the Seimas, the Government and the President, to complete the legislative work begun this year and to ensure that all outstanding recommendations of the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission…

From 4-5 June 2026, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) hosted a two-day workshop focusing on EU legislation impacting media freedom and the digital environment. Around 40 journalists, journalists’ representatives, experts and policymakers gathered in Brussels to discuss the application in practice of key European legislation for journalists and the media sector as a whole. “Today we’re here to exchange experiences, strengthen our advocacy and ensure that media freedom does not remain a beautiful phrase in European legislation, but become something that journalists actually feel in their everyday work,” said Maja Sever, President of EFJ, in her opening remarks. Key…

Alicia Armesto, a journalist and the technical secretary of the Madrid Journalists’ Union (SPM) – part of the Federation of Journalists’ Unions (FeSP) – was detained alongside other nine activists by the Libyan National Army. The group was held on 24 May while approaching a military checkpoint in Sirte, between Tripoli and Benghazi, with a humanitarian convoy on their way to Gaza, Palestine. The International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) have joined their affiliate, the FeSP, in urging the Spanish government to do everything in its power to ensure the immediate release of Armesto and to guarantee her safety…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), its partner organisations from the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) will travel to Paris from 9 to 11 June 2026 to assess the current state of media freedom in France, less than a year before the presidential elections.  While France’s legal and regulatory framework is generally supportive of media freedom, there has been an alarming increase in the number and severity of attacks documented on journalists and media outlets in recent years. As of 3 June 2026, 376 violations of press freedom affecting 590 media professionals had been documented since…

Italian journalist Adriano Cappellari’s home in Enego, northeastern Italy, was targeted in an arson attack on 31 May. The journalist had previously received threatening letters due to his reporting. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) join their affiliate, the Federazione Nazionale Stampa Italiana (FNSI), in expressing solidarity with Cappellari and calling for a prompt investigation into this attack. Journalist Adriano Cappellari contributes to the local newspaper L’Altopiano and the regional newspaper Il Giornale di Vicenza, both of which are based in the Province of Vicenza, in northeastern Italy. In February 2026, he received anonymous letters to…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) will hold its annual meeting in Ankara, Turkey. Around 70 journalists and trade union representatives are expected to meet on 18-19 June 2026. It is co-organised by the Journalists’ Association (GCD), based in the capital city of Turkey. Under the theme “Independent journalism under siege”, the EFJ Congress will kick off with a conference on “The global crisis of journalism”. The event will welcome Márton Gergely, chief editor of  HVG, Hungary’s leading weekly and Chair of the IPI Executive Board, for a keynote discussion on the global challenges facing the profession.  During the Congress,…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins its Hungarian affiliates, HPU and MUOSZ, in condemning the manoeuvres that led to the closure of the print edition of Népszava, the largest national political daily in Hungary and the last and only remaining liberal, social democratic political daily in the country. Mediaworks, the media holding company with close ties to the Fidesz party, and the logistics company Medialog-DMHM, which belongs to the same group, suddenly announced on Thursday the immediate termination of their printing and distribution contract with the publisher of Népszava, a contract that had been in place for over ten years.…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and its members from Slovenia (SNS, DNS), Croatia (HND, TUCJ), Bosnia and Herzegovina (BH Journalists), Montenegro (TUMM) and Serbia (NUNS, UNS, Nezavisnost) express serious concern about the current uncertainty facing media outlets operating under the Adria News Network, following the confirmation that an agreement has been reached for the sale of Adria News S.à r.l. to the international investment group Alpac Capital. According to published information, the transaction includes news media operating within the Adria News Network,  such as N1, Nova S, Vijesti, Danas, Radar and other media outlets in the region, employing more…

UPDATE (26/05/2026): NUJU has also reported damage to the office of its Kyiv regional organisation, located on Khreshchatyk Street in central Kyiv. The blast wave damaged windows and scattered glass inside the premises. While the damage is not critical, the incident further illustrates how Russian missile-and-drone attacks continue to affect infrastructure connected to journalists and access to information. —————— The International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) join their affiliate, the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU), in condemning one of the largest Russian missile-and-drone attacks on Kyiv on the night of 23-24 May, which damaged media infrastructure and…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has launched its funding scheme through its IMPACT project, co-funded by the European Commission, to help member unions improve journalists’ working conditions and defend their fundamental rights. Following a three-month process of application and evaluation carried out by the independent Evaluation Committee set up by the EFJ, 8 members from Croatia, the Netherlands, Hungary, Belgium, Spain, France and Bulgaria, were rewarded with a total of 69,012 EUR to carry out their national projects. The projects launched by the journalists’ unions and associations will address a wide range of issues, including defending media freedom as…

By Valeriia Muskharina, National Union of Journalists of Ukraine Journalism is not a crime. This principle drives the ongoing solidarity campaign which unites the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU), the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) in demanding Russia release all Ukrainian media workers it holds in captivity. This shared commitment will be marked on 26 May with a special screening of the NUJU documentary Free The Voices at the Brussels Press Club. The film follows six journalists who survived Russian detention and bears witness to those still waiting. One of them…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined the undersigned media freedom and journalist organisations in standing in full solidarity with the Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation, which has been ordered to pay over one million dinars (€8,812)  in damages in a defamation case brought by those acquitted of the murder of the Serbian editor and newspaper founder, Slavko Ćuruvija. For 27 years, the Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation has fought for justice for the assassination of Ćuruvija, who was gunned down outside his apartment in Belgrade in 1999.  On 15 May 2026, the Second Basic Court in Belgrade ruled that the Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation…

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, DJV), 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…

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…