Employees of Newsquest, one of the UK’s largest regional newspaper publishers with more than 200 papers and owned by the US company Garnett, are on strike over major reorganization, compulsory redundancies and salaries, as some of them are not paid the London living wage. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) today joined their affiliate in the United Kingdom and Ireland, the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), and supported a 12-day strike starting today in south London by the Newsquest Media Group’s workers. After failure of negotiations with the management that took place until…

UPDATE (06/08/2015) : Three people who allegedly physically attacked Croatian investigative journalist Zeljko Peratovic in May will be investigated for attempted murder. — The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) in cooperation with the Croatian Journalists’ Association of Journalists (CJA/ HND) sent several letters to Croatian high level representatives from Parliament, government, police and justice  including Kolinda Grabar Kitarović, President of the Republic of Croatia and Zoran Milanović, Prime minister, in order to to express its great concern for the safety of  freelance journalist Željko Peratović and ask for official intervention for his protection. Željko Peratović, the winner of the CJA Award for…

To bring some action to its usually serious – and sometimes dull – documents, the Steering Committee on Media and Information Society (CDMSI) of the Council of Europe (CoE) also met this week, in Strasbourg, with the six winners of a Spanish school comics competition on human rights and Internet. It is not sure that the kids would indeed “make sure to be safe online for the rest of their life”, as one of the children told the meeting, but the contribution of young Internet users definitely brought a fresh tone to the meeting. Good news: Online platform working On…

This month, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has welcomed its new member from Bosnia and Herzegovina, the the Bosnia-Herzegovina Journalists’ Association (BHJA). In this feature article, the EFJ has interviewed Borka Rudic, General Secretary of the association to tell us the challenges facing journalists and the union. About the BHJA The BHJA was founded in 2004 as an umbrella association of journalists in Bosnia-Herzegovina with activities covering the entire territory of the country. It has 750 members from all sectors of the media and all types of journalists and media workers (including freelance journalists, journalism students, photograhers, proofreaders, cameramen).…

The European Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee has today adopted in a majority vote an own initiative report on authors’ rights that including provisions to strengthen authors’ contractual position while opening up some exceptions. The controversial report initiated by the European Greens MEP Reda  is a response to current work led by the European Commission to reform copyright/authors’ rights legislation (on the implementation of the “Infosoc directive” 2001/29) in the EU . It has led to heated debates inside the European Parliament and political groups over the possibility to relax current legislation to enable users to access protected works more extensively in the…

Following today’s vote on the Trade Secrets Directive in the Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the European Newspaper Publishers’ Association (ENPA) and the European Magazine Media Association (EMMA) reiterate their call for a clear and strong protection of the right to media freedom and information. The European Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee (JURI) today introduced provisions to counter potential restrictions on journalists’ capacity to report on and investigate business activities that are in the public interest. The text voted today rightly specifies that the Directive shall not affect…

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) have today launched a report on the safety of journalists in Ukraine in 2014 during a conflict reporting conference organized by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Vienna. The report was prepared by IFJ/EFJ affiliates, the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU), the Independent Media Trade Union of Ukraine (IMTUU) and the Russian Union of Journalists (RUJ) in a joint IFJ/EFJ initiative to document the lessons and experience of the Ukraine conflict for journalists. The handbook details the range and scope of restrictions…

Live streaming available   The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) represented by its president, Mogens Blicher Bjerregård, today attends a two-day conference on the safety of journalists and conflict reporting in Vienna hosted by the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatović. The two-day event, “Journalists’ Safety, Media Freedom and Pluralism in Times of Conflict”, brought together some 300 journalists, media experts, diplomats and key policy-makers from across the OSCE region to discuss and review the current situation relating to the safety of journalists reporting from conflicts. The conference also aims to share concerns and best practices, and…

The draft EU directive on trade secrets will be put to the vote on June 16 by the European Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee (JURI). This directive threatens fundamental rights and puts the profits of multinational corporations over democratic, social and environmental rights. By adopting a broad and vague definition of trade secrets, and by making it an offense every time information considered confidential by the company concerned is published, the whole range of activities of the media, trade unions and whistleblowers is threatened. At the same time, the European Commission refused on June 6 to begin work on a directive…

The Svenska Journalistförbundet, Swedish affiliate of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), organised on Wednesday (10/06/2015) in Malmö a protest against the double use zero pay policy affecting press photographers and freelance journalists working for the newspaper Sydsvenskan. The Swedish daily newspaper Sydsvenskan bought at the end of last year another newspaper Helsingborgs Dagblad and the management wants to re-publish all the material from freelancers (photographers and reporters) without any financial compensation for the authors. Since November 2014, the Swedish union has initiated the negotiations with the management of Sydsvenskan without any progress achieved so far. A concrete proposal was put on…

As Azerbaijan’s capital Baku is getting prepared for the first European Olympic Games to be set on 12-28 June, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) publish a set of safety guidelines to support journalists reporting on the ground.   “We are concerned that journalists may be subject to surveillance by the Azeri security services if they trespass the limits and boundaries fixed by their official accreditation to cover other issues than the Baku 2015 European Games,” said IFJ President Jim Boumelha. “These guidelines will provide journalists on the ground with basic tips to…

Pressure against journalists and media workers was already alarming before the elections in Turkey and unfortunately the situation isn’t cooling down after the elections. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) have today (11/06/2015) learned that several attacks on physical integrity of journalists in Diyarbakir have taken place in the past few days : DHA female correspondent Canan Altintaş and her cameraman Serdar Sinar have been badly injured by a group of unidentified armed individuals (09/06/2015) İHA correspondent Burak Emek has been injured by a group of unidentified armed individuals (09/06/2015) Kurdish journalist and TGS member Ozan Kilinç (and board…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has welcomed the reopening of the Greek public service broadcaster, ERT on 11 June, the same date it was shut down two years ago in 2013 leaving 2600 people out of work. According to recent announcements made by the government, former ERT workers will be able to return to their jobs (except those who retired voluntarily at the time of the closure). It is estimated that around 1500 media workers will be rehired. However, it is not completely clear yet on what terms and conditions these workers will be hired. Marilena Katsimis, former General…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) together with media organisations have called on members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to amend a draft European Directive on trade secrets that could prevents journalists from exercising their rights to freedom of expression and hamper the rights of citizens to be informed. According to the latest discussion at the European Parliament, the draft directive contains exceptions that set out in which circumstances a journalist can disclose information that is considered trade secrets. It also includes a recital that requires Member States of the European Union (EU) to respect Article 11 (2) of the…

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) have warned that journalists covering the Baku 2015 European Games may be subject to surveillance by the Azeri security services if they trespass the limits and boundaries fixed by their official accreditation to cover other issues than the Baku 2015 European Games. Alan Pearce, a journalist and author specialising in cyber-security and counter-surveillance, provides some top tips and spy-proof measures on how to keep your activities to yourself.   BEFORE YOU GO Clear out all your devices, removing personal details and contacts, and replace the SD card…

на српском The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has condemned the Swiss media group Ringier Axel Springer Media AG for the mass dismissal of journalists and media employees at Serbian media outlets (Blic, Alo, 24 casa, NIN, Blic, Zena Plusand,…) operated by the group. The EFJ gave strong backing to its Serbian affiliates UNS (The Journalists’ Association of Serbia – JAS) and NUNS (the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia – IJAS). In a letter sent to the management of the Swiss media group, the EFJ called on the management to investigate serious claims made by media professionals about the unofficial…