Rising hatred and extremism on online platforms is a new challenge for journalists. Their work is getting much harder in a political climate marked by hatred and discrimination. The need for accurate and truthful reporting is more important than ever. “How to deal with hate speech and freedom of expression in the daily editorial work”: the issue will be discussed during the coming international seminar organised in Florence, Italy, by Associazione Carta di Roma and Arci, with the contribution of the Robert Kennedy Foundation Europe, Cospe and LSDI (Libertà di Stampa e Diritto all’Informazione). The European Federation of Journalists will also participate to the…

The Union of Journalists in Bulgaria (SJBP Podkrepa, EFJ affiliate) has successfully held its 9th national conference on 25/06/2015 at the conference hall of the Confederation of Labour Syndicate in Sofia (Bulgaria). Reneta Nikolova, TV journalist, author and presenter of the rubric We and the Law at the Bulgarian National Televison, has been re-elected as President of Podkrepa with an absolute majority, she will work in tandem with her deputy Yavor Simov, an investigative journalist. The SJBP Podkrepa has 187 members and the main objectives of the new leadership are the following : recruitment of new members improving working conditions for journalists support investigative journalism sharing European best…

In the framework of the project “Rights and Jobs in Journalism”, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) together with the Spanish journalists’ union (FSC-CCOO) will organise a one-day workshop on “Labour Rights for Journalists” on 24 September in Albacete, Spain.   Agenda The workshop will discuss and offer practice tools and exchanges on the following themes: Defending journalists’ rights in the changing working relations and conditions Industrial actions and collective bargaining: Organising and mobilising membership Protection for the vulnerable media workers – young, freelance, female journalists Download the agenda. Practical information Workshop Venue: Hotel Europa (SAN ANTONIO, 39 Albacete , ALBACETE , 02001, España) Transport…

On Sunday (28/06/2015), the police in Istanbul used tear gas and water cannon to disperse  LGBTi Pride Parade peaceful participants before even the beginning of the demonstration. Journalists and press photographers have prevented by the police from doing their job. The 13th edition of the Istanbul LGBTi Pride Parade was authorised and scheduled to start on Sunday at 5 pm at Taksim Square but the demonstration had “suddenly been banned by the Istanbul Governor’s Office using the month of Ramadan as the reason without any announcement”, according to the Istanbul LGBTI Pride Week Committee. Tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets have been used against…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) welcomes the launch of the Croatian Center for the Protection of Freedom of Expression. The Croatian Journalists’ Association (HND), in cooperation with the Union of Croatian Journalists (SNH), both members of the EFJ, will present this project in Zagreb, on 2 July. The Center will provide legal protection to journalists, in a context of increasingly frequent threats and intimidation. The new chair of HND, Sasa Lekovic, will present on Thursday, in Zagreb, the brand new Center for the Protection of Freedom of Expression (CPFE). The organisation will provide legal advice and representation to journalists…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) have together condemned the actions of Armenian police who attacked and briefly detained at least 10 media workers who were covering a demonstration on 23 June in Yerevan (Armenia). The two organisations have asked the authorities to investigate the incidents and punish the perpetrators. According to media reports, at least 10 media workers were assaulted and briefly detained by police officers who destroyed phones, cameras, laptops and video equipment of many journalists. The police also confiscated the memory cards of those who had filmed the crackdown against…

Representative from 20 journalists’ organisations, publishing houses, academic institutions, trade unions and media experts from many European countries have launched the European Center for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) in Leipzig, Germany. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) is among the founding members of the ECPMF. Mogens Blicher Bjerregård (EFJ President) and Liljana Smaijlovic (UNS President, Serbian Journalists’ Union) have been elected to the 8-member Executive Board,  Naser Selmani (President of the Journalists’ Association  of Macedonia) was elected into the Supervisory Board. The ECPMF is an independent non-profit European Co-operative Society (SCE). Its missions are to unite Europe’s highly fragmented media…

An IFJ/EFJ delegation met with Pirate Party MEP Julia Reda this morning to discuss her report on the implementation of the “infosoc” directive on copyright and related rights in the information society and the directive on trade secrets for which she was appointed as shadow rapporteur for the Greens EP group. The delegation was composed of EFJ President Mogens Blicher Bjerregård, EFJ General Secretary Ricardo Gutiérrez and IFJ/EFJ authors’ rights officer Pamela Morinière. The IFJ and the EFJ expressed its strong rejection of the trade secret directive. “You were right to vote against the current version of the text,” Ricardo…

A group of international press freedom and professional organisations, including the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), completed on Friday a three-day high-level mission to Spain, where a controversial new law on public security is set to take effect on July 1. In a series of meetings in Madrid, the group, led by the International Press Institute (IPI) and including representatives from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the Madrid-based Platform for the Defence of Free Expression (PDLI), as well as independent legal and regulatory experts, urged Spanish political parties to include key press…