During a press conference today in Skopje (Macedonia), the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) and Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa (OBCT) called on the Macedonian authorities to investigate the attacks against 10 journalists and media workers, during last night’s storming of the Macedonian parliament building by nationalist demonstrators. At least two journalists were injured in the attack, according to reports from the Association of Journalists of Macedonia (ZNM). Dimitar Tanurov, a reporter for the independent online news agency Meta, was taking pictures inside the parliament. He…

UPDATE (03.05.2017): The government withdraw the draft law on criminalisation of defamation.  The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) backs its affiliate, the Association of Journalists of Kosovo (AJK), in opposing the draft law prepared by the Ministry of Justice aiming to criminalise defamation of the President and Kosovo state symbols. The amendments to Kosovo Criminal Code foresees that anyone who insults or expresses with ill intention contempt for the Republic of Kosovo, for its constitutional order or its anthem, is punishable up to three years of prison. In addition, the defamation of constitutional body, including the President, the Parliament, the…

On Tuesday (25/04/2017) the European Parliament’s Committee on Culture and Education (CULT) voted in favor of the revision of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD). The revision acknowledges the emergence of new online platforms and enforces basic rules to better protect minors and combat hate speech. It adapts the definition of video-sharing platforms, applies qualitative advertising and sponsors rules for these platforms. Video sharing platform service is now defined as a service that consists of the storage of a large amount of programmes or user-generated videos. The video sharing platform provider does not have editorial responsibility for them. The revision…

Following ECPMF-EFJ-SEEMO-OBCT fact-finding mission to Macedonia, on 25th-28th April 2017, the four organisations issued this statement today, regarding rising violence against journalists in Macedonia: We hereby express our deep concerns about the yesterday‘s violent attacks against journalists in the parliament of the Republic of Macedonia. From the beginning of 2016 until yesterday at least 21 attacks against journalists in Macedonia have been registered by the Association of Journalists of Macedonia (ZNM), out of a total of several dozens within the last years. All this clearly demonstrates a rising trend in violence against journalists. The state of media freedom in the…