The European Federation of Journalists welcomes today the adoption of a report on the Protection of Media Freedom in Europe by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) but warns about the worrying trends on press freedom in Europe. “Although we welcome the adoption of the report, it highlighted again the worrying trends in Europe on press freedom particularly in countries where serious cases of press freedom violations are prominent,” said Mogens Blicher Bjerregård. “Countries highlighted in the report including Azerbaijan, Hungary, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine should step up their efforts in improving their press freedom records.” emphasised…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) welcomes the adoption of a new resolution by the European Parliament on freedom of expression in Turkey. The resolution adopted (551 votes in favour, 11 against and 31 abstentions) by members of the European Parliament (MEP) condemned the police raids on 14 December 2014 against Zaman newspaper and Samanyolu TV and the detention of a number of journalists and media representatives in Turkey. They recalled that a free and pluralistic press is the core of a democratic system and stressed that judicial independence was not respected in the country.”The government’s response to the allegations…

The European Federation of Journalists attended the conference “Je suis Charlie-Media Freedom in the EU and South Eastern Europe” at the European Parliament. Hosted by Ulrike LUNACEK, Vice-President of the European Parliament, Green Party, in cooperation with the Italian based Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso (OBC) the meeting discussed threats on media freedom, in particular within the context of the project “safety net for European journalists presented by OBC. Tanja FAJON, Member of the European Parliament, warned about excessive security measures taken by European governments after the Charlie Hebdo’s attack. “In this moment, the government’s responsibility is to strengthen solidarity and…

Senior representatives from broadcasting, network infrastructure, trade unions and professional organisations call on EU decision-makers to shape an ambitious industrial strategy for Europe’s creative and cultural industries. Europe’s unique radio and audiovisual model is a huge asset for Europe’s competitive position in the digital world, cultural diversity and media pluralism. Meeting in the European Parliament today[1], senior representatives of AER, APWPT, BNE, EBU, EFJ and UNI MEI[2] called for an industrial strategy for creative and cultural industries based on growth, innovation and jobs. Speaking at the meeting, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has called on EU policy-makers to take…

New research published today shows that too many major lobby organisations, including financial lobbyists the City of London Corporation and Credit Suisse; major corporations such as Electrabel, Anglo American and General Motors; law firms such as Covington & Burling and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer; and lobby consultancies, are not listed in the lobby transparency register despite being active in EU lobbying.[1] The research by the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU)[2] (in which the European Federation of Journalists is a member)  is being published on the same day as the re-launch of the Commission-Parliament joint lobby transparency register. The…

Europe needs more media pluralism. The application of the “Media Pluralism Monitor 2014”, developped by the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom (CMPF) at the Florence European University Institute, demonstrates that there are various risks for media pluralism across nine selected countries (Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy and the United Kingdom). The results of the study are clear: “Every country has a specific weakness that creates high scores, meaning high risk”. Here are the main results (full report here): Hungary (50% of the indicators show a high risk). The MPM2014 for Hungary shows a situation of high risk for media…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), together with the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), have today demanded in a joint letter to Macedonian Prime Minister, Mr. Nicola Gruevski, the review of the Macedonian journalist Tomislav Kezarovsi’s two year jail sentence. The reporter, sentenced allegedly for revealing the identity of a witness in a murder case, was recently granted release from prison on health grounds until next 18 February, which IFJ and EFJ find insufficient. By a public letter, they called on the Macedonian authorities to reconsider Kezarovski’s innocence and to grant him the permanent release. (Photo credit: Tomislav Georgiev.)

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and their Russian affiliate, the Russian Union of Journalists (RUJ) call for the release of imprisoned Russian journalist and blogger Sergei Reznik. He has been sentenced, on 22 January, in Rostov-on-Don, to additional three years in a penal colony. “While the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs was in Paris on January 11 to support freedom of expression, after the attack on Charlie Hebdo, we note once again that many journalists cannot exercise their duty to inform in Russia. We fully support our colleague and the RUJ, our Russian…

en français / en español / en català Journalists face an increasing challenge to secure their communications in a digital world. The protection of confidential source can be easily compromised in a world where surveillance is becoming ubiquitous. Can journalists secure their communications and protect their sources? To address the issue, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) has organised a four-day workship starting from 19 to 21 January in Brussels on “Cyber security for journalists”. Run by digital security expert, Dmitri Vitaliev, twenty-one journalists and union officers are given a hand-on approach to…

On Thursday, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) organised a media lunchtime debate with the EBU, the European Broadcasting Union and ENPA, the European Association of Newspaper Publishers. The theme of the meeting was: “#JESUISCHARLIE: Publish or not to publish, that is the question.” Jean-Paul Marthoz, European adviser for the CPJ, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and member of the EJN, Ethical Journalism Network, moderated the debate. He opened the discussions by recalling that “journalists are not irresponsible. Before each publication, there’s always a debate. (…) However, today we see a difference between the online media, like Buzzfeed and the…

The Dutch freelance journalist Mehmet Ülger has been acquitted today by the Turkish court. Ülger was detained at Istanbul’s Atatürk Airport on January 7 while trying to leave Turkey. He was later released. Ülger was told that he had been held in connection to his presence at the September 2013 trial of then imprisoned Turkish-Dutch journalist Füsun Erdoğan. Ülger had his cell phone with him in the court room at Erdoğan’s trial and reportedly took photos on his phone. Ülger attended the trial as an observer for the NVJ. Mehmet Ülger could have been sentenced to six months in prison. “I hope…

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its regional organisation, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), together with their members in Macedonia the Association of Journalists of Macedonia (ZNM) and the Trade Union of Macedonian Journalists and Media Workers (SSNM), have today declared insufficient the temporary release of the investigative journalist Tomislav Kezarovski and called again on the national court to reconsider his innocence. Around 3,000 demonstrators gathered today from midday onwards in Skopje to denounce the two year jail sentence that the Macedonian Court had imposed last week on Kezarovski allegedly for revealing the identity of a witness in a murder case.…

On Monday, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), ClientEarth, the European Environmental Bureau, Friends of the Earth Europe, and the Corporate Europe Observatory jointly submitted a complaint to the EU Ombudsman regarding maladministration by the European Commission in relation to access to documents relating to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The complainants note, and welcome, the own-initiative investigations launched by the European Ombudsman in relation to the transparency of the TTIP negotiations and the public consultation, and the decision published on 6 January 2015. We furthermore note the publication by the Commission of additional documents on its website on…

This Monday (19/01/2015), the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) attended a meeting organised by the Press Club Brussels Europe on ethical reporting.  Aidan White, Director of the Ethical Journalism Network (EJN), an organisation of which the EFJ is a member, was invited to talk about the “Ethics of reporting the Charlie Hebdo killings and the challenges for journalists”. White was introduced by Peter Nicolaas Kramer, President of the Press Club Brussels Europe, and Maria Laura Franciosi, member of the Press Club Brussels Europe. “There is a major crisis in the media industry today,” started Aidan White (EJN). “We need to…

The  European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and its affiliate in the Netherlands, the Dutch Association of Journalists (NVJ), found the arrest and prosecution of the Dutch journalist Mehmet Ülger most alarming and violating press freedom as provided in Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The Dutch freelance journalist Mehmet Ülger was detained at Istanbul’s Atatürk Airport on the morning of January 7 while trying to leave Turkey. Ülger was later released and allowed to leave Turkey, but he must attend  a court hearing on January 21. Ülger was told that he had been held in connection to…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) kicked off a two-year project “Rights and jobs in journalism” in a preparatory meeting held in Brussels with project partners. The project’s steering committee and representatives from four partner organisations (Trade Union of Croatian Journalists, Slovenian Association of Journalists, Federacion de servicios a la ciudadania de CC.OO, Danish Union of Journalists) discussed what measures can be taken to improve the capacity of unions in protecting the professional rights of journalists and reaching out to new members. Louise Theil, the recruitment officer of the Danish Journalists’ Union presented its recruitment strategy to the participants and…