The Creators Conference 2016 concluded on Tuesday 31 after a productive day of panels, interviews and speeches by prominent artists, experts and policy makers discussing the current issues faced by the European creators’ community and the cultural and creative industries. The Authors’ Group welcomed European Commission Vice-President Andrus Ansip in charge of the Digital Single Market for a keynote speech in which the Commissioner confirmed the “need to look closer at the conditions for remunerating creators and getting a fair share of the value generated”. Vice-President Ansip also stressed the “follow the money approach” and “widening access to content” for consumers…

The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has written to the European Commission demanding that it : • rejects the arguments against the revision of the posting of workers directive in the ‘yellow card’ from some Member States; • allows a democratic debate without delay on the existing proposal through the normal EU legislative procedure with governments and the European Parliament. The ETUC letter accuses the Member States involved of neglecting their own workers. “All trade unions in Europe, including in countries where parliaments have supported the yellow card procedure, strongly support revision of the Posting of Workers Directive,” said Luca Visentini,…

The International and European Federations of Journalists strongly condemn the draft amendment to the Italian Penal Code which will increase the criminal penalties for those accused of defamation against members of the political class, the judiciary or public administration. The EFJ and its Italian member, FNSI, call on Italian authorities to decriminalize defamation. The EFJ and IFJ have submitted today an alert on the issue on the Council of Europe of the Platform for the Protection of Journalism. A committee of the Italian Senate voted unanimously on 3 May 2016, a draft amendment to the Penal Code which will increase the criminal…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) have successfully organised a 3-day training (25-27 May) in Leuven (Belgium) on Cybersecurity for journalists : Secure, protect, investigate. This was the second edition of a course organized 2015 along four days about Cybersecurity for journalists and with the same practical approach. The course aimed to facilitate technical skills to journalists helping them to protect themselves, their work and their sources. 13 journalists and / or unionists coming from 11 countries took part to the training, with an important participation of participants coming from countries of the…

The Norwegian Freelance Journalist Union (NJ Frilans) hosted the Nordic Freelance Seminar, which is held once a year,  in Ilsetra, Norway on 20-22 May. The over 100 participants were freelance journalists from EFJ affiliates in Finland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. The aim of the seminar was  networking and sharing experience, discussing recent trends both regarding ever more precarious working conditions for freelances and new technological tools to advance storytelling and journalism by getting closer to the audience. Frank Aarebrot, professor of comparative politics at the University of Bergen in his opening speech adviced the community to demand public funding to…

Hungary It all started with a simple question. Janos Karpati, then Brussels correspondent for the Hungarian national newswire, didn’t think it would terminate his longtime career when he addressed the Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban at a press conference at the fringes of the European Parliament’s plenary meeting in Strasbourg. Orban had come to Strasbourg to speak about migration – and his widely-criticized comment on reinstating the death penalty. Karpati, an experienced correspondent who has worked in Prague and Washington, DC, asked Orban about Fidesz’ position within the European People’s Party, a question he hadn’t cleared with anyone beforehand. He…

The International and European Federations of Journalists welcome the Azerbaijani Supreme Court’s decision today to release investigative reporter Khadija Ismayilova, who had been imprisoned on trumped-up charges since December 2014. The court converted Ismayilova’s jail term into a three-and-a half-year suspended term. Khadija Ismayilova has already served 1.5 years in prison, held on politically motivated charges for her work exposing corruption. She now faces 3.5 years on probation, and a two-year ban on professional activities. In September 2015, the Baku Court of Serious Crimes sentenced Ismayilova to seven-and-a-half years in prison on tax evasion and large-scale embezzlement charges. The IFJ…

How do we bring authors’ rights back to the core of the copyright debate? Where are authors in the EU copyright priorities? How can EU lawmakers ensure that authors get a fair share of their works and do not get ripped of by unfair contracts? To address these questions, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), is partnering with European organisations representing music composers (ECSA), writers (EWC), film directors (FERA) and Screenwriters (FSE) in a key conference on 31 May in Brussels addressing authors’ rights, freedom of expression and digital future. More about the conference: http://creatorsconference.org/home

Journalists Union of Serbia (SINOS – EFJ affiliate) in partnership with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation held a seminar in Prolom Banja (Serbia) from 19 to 21 May. The theme of the was organising unions for media workers in Serbia and the Balkans countries. The participants talked about precarious work, legal and social status of journalists and the sustainability of trade unions in the media with multinational ownership problems. The President of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), Mogens Blicher Bjerregard spoke about the experience of organizing unions for journalists in different European Union member states. He stressed that progress is possible when…

UPDATE (01/06/2016) : Nada Kalkan, the new editor of RTV, is sending the EFJ the following statement : “That’s not true that journalists in RTV were layoffs. Previous program director was replaced and new director elected because the executive board was not satisfied. The general director and the editor-in-chief have resigned. Now, we have new a group of managers, nobody at RTV was dismissed or degraded and most of them have same salary and rested on editorial places.” Serbian media report that program director of RTV, Slobodan Arežina, was replaced, general director Srđan Mihajlović resigned under political pressure; 7 editors of news program…

Update (25th May): Our Turkish colleague Erol Önderoglu is also under criminal investigation for “terrorist propaganda” for participating in a solidarity campaign with the Kurdish daily newspaper Özgür Gündem. The EFJ and IFJ demand that all criminal charges be dropped against journalists involved in this campaign. The European and International Federations of Journalists (EFJ and IFJ) is calling upon the presumptive upcoming Turkish Prime minister, Binali Yildirim, to end the climate of permanent judicial intimidation, threats, harassment, detention and physical assaults against journalists and media workers in Turkey. The EFJ is particularly underlining the fact that Turkish judicial authorities have recently opened an…

The Institute of European Media Law (EMR), consortium partner of the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), has recently conducted a study on the state of media freedom and investigative journalism in Europe. The results published on 17 May 2016 show that restrictive rules for the development of press freedom remain a major obstacle in all countries. 1. Decriminalisation of journalism = Hungarian model Journalists might infringe the law while trying to obtain information. According to the report, all legal frameworks know limits to the freedom of obtaining information. Even though in many states courts take into consideration the importance of press freedom…

A three-day conference will be held on 27-29 June 2016 in Brussels on the theme: “Shaping the new world of work – The impacts of digitalisation and robotisation”. Organised by the European Trade Union Confederation and the European Trade Union Institute, the conference will bring together over 400 representatives of trade unions, research bodies, academia, civil society, EU institutions and international organisations to discuss how the world and nature of work and employment is being changed radically by the digital revolution. Contrary to similar conferences, this event will not only focus on the quantity of work (‘will robots destroy our jobs?’) but also…

Three top editors from the Russian RBC media group announced their departure on 13 May as the political pressure against the independent media outlet grows in Russia. The International and European Federations of journalists (IFJ/EFJ) back their affiliate the Russian Union of Journalists (RUJ) in expressing concerns over the growing intimidation against the media in Russia. In a statement published on 13 May RBC said that the resignations of editor-in-chief Yelizaveta Osetinskaya, chief editor of the RBC newspaper Maxim Solyus, and chief editor of the RBC news agency Roman Badanin were due to “differences regarding the media company’s future and…

A Ukrainian organisation working on national security published thousands of personal details of journalists on its website on 7 May claiming the journalists had accreditation with pro-Russian separatists in the eastern Ukraine. It further accused them of ‘co-operating with terrorist organisations’ and violating Ukraine law. The European and International Federation of Journalists (EFJ/IFJ) support their Ukrainian affiliates the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) and the Independent Media Trade Union of Ukraine (IMTUU) in denouncing this leak which endangers journalists’ safety and urge the Ukrainian government to bring those responsible to justice. The private contact details published by Myrotvorets (“The Peacemaker”…

On May 24, the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs as well as the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality will discuss with the Commission a draft report on “Creating labour market conditions favourable for work-life balance”. The co-rapporteurs are Vilija Blinkevičiūtė (S&D) and Tatjana Ždanoka (Greens/EFA). This own initiative report is a reaction to the roadmap and public consultation published in 2015 titled “A new start to address the challenges of work-life balance faced by working families”. The objective is to increase the participation of women in the labour market by modernising and adapting the current EU policy framework to today’s labour…