EU Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society working on reform of copyright/authors’ rights

Günter Oettinger, EU Commissioner in charge of Digital Economy and Society, met delegates from the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) on Thursday (30/04/2015) about the plan for a reform of the EU copyright/authors’ rights legislation taking into account new technological developments.  Mogens Blicher Bjerregård (Danemark, EFJ President) took the floor to stress that “staff journalists, freelancers, press photographers, cartoonists, graphical editors and other media workers should clearly be considered as authors contributing contents for the online, audiovisual or print media industry. The EU creative industry is a big market with an annual turnover of 500 billion euros. In Denmark alone, between 4 and 5 million euros are collected…

EFJ-IFJ published a special newsletter on journalism in Turkey

The IFJ – EFJ has published a special edition newsletter on Turkey. The newsletter highlights key trends, tips and best practices about journalists in Turkey and the latest news about the international campaign on Set Journalism Free in Turkey. See the special edition HERE More information is available on our campaign page : https://europeanjournalists.org/campaigns/turkey-set-journalists-free/

Journalism is persona non grata in Turkey

A new documentary called Persona non grata*, directed by Tuluhan Tekelioğu and supported by the Platform for Independent Journalism (P24), puts the lights on the poor working conditions of journalists in Turkey. From the basic court reporter to the star columnists of mainstream newspapers, all journalists in the country are currently struggling between legal harassments, political pressures, increasing self-censorship, pressures to quit jobs for covering sensitive issues or pressures to avoid affiliation to a professional trade union movement. In this 41 minute documentary officially presented in Istanbul at the Swedish Consulate for World Press Freedom Day, Mustafa Kuleli (General Secretary of the…

#WPFD : Press freedom in Europe and its mental routines

en français / en español by Paco Audije (Spain, member of the Steering Committee of the EFJ) Today on World Press Freedom Day (#WPFD), the right to freedom of expression is again be celebrated as an inalienable European value across the continent — by the public, the media and politicians alike. But to many, this will mean little more than engaging in a well trodden mental routine. We hardly consider the difficulties that freedom of expression faces in practice. In the first part of 2015, more than a third of journalist killings in the word took place in two European…

Journalists Jailed in Turkey

World Press Freedom Day tomorrow: 32 journalists jailed in Europe

Ahead of World Press Freedom Day (#WPFD), tomorrow, the European Federation of Journalists strongly calls for release of imprisoned journalists in Europe. With their affiliates in Turkey, Azerbaijan, Russia and Belarus, the EFJ and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) are following closely the cases of 33 imprisoned journalists in Europe. All of them are in prison just for having done their job. Together with the Helsinki Commission, the EFJ call on again the authorities of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Russia to release those journalists who remain imprisoned. We will not forget them… Turkey (follow the IFJ/EFJ campaign “Set journalists free in Turkey”)…

Labour Day: press freedom requires decent working conditions for journalists

“There can be no press freedom if journalists exist in conditions of corruption, poverty or fear”… The motto of the IFJ must be recalled on this Labour Day. A recent Swiss study proved that the deteriorating working conditions of journalists have a negative impact on press freedom and quality of journalism. The results suggest that economic pressure from advertisers and the media owners are jeopardising the editorial freedom of media. Press freedom is declining in Europe, as clearly indicated in the annual report of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjørn Jagland, in the annual activity report of the Council of…

Bosnia-Herzegovina

Bosnia-Herzegovina Journalists’ Association – BHN Address Krajla Trvrtka 5/V, 71000 Sarajevo Staff Marko Divković (President) Borka Rudic (General Secretary) Arman Fazlic (Coordinator) Phone +387 33 217 302 Email bhnovinari@bhnovinari.ba Contact Person Borka Rudic – borka.rudic@bhnovinari.ba Arman Fazlic – arman.fazlic@bhnovinari.ba Website Twitter  http://bhnovinari.ba @bhnovinari