The EFJ urges Estonia to reconsider denied accreditation to Russian journalists

The EFJ urges the Estonian Presidency of the Council of the European Union to reconsider denied accreditation to three Russian journalists for the EU informal meeting of the EU ministers of Foreign Affairs in Tallinn (Estonia) to take place on 7-8 September 2017. The Estonian Presidency refused three requests for accreditation from Russian state owned news agency Rossiya Segodnya to cover the EU informal meeting. The requests were filed by the Brussels based correspondent Vladimir Dobrovolskiy, and by Moscow based journalists Maria Kiseleva and Anastasia Sedelnikova. No explanations were provided by the Estonian authorities for their refusal. Sergey Kochetkov, first…

How to ensure editorial independence in the newsroom?

Journalists are facing increasing economic and political pressure hampering editorial independence in the newsrooms, concluded 20 journalists who attended the two-day workshop on Promoting editorial independence in the newsrooms. It was co-organised by the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) together with the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) on 29 & 30 August with the financial support of the European Union. The workshop was also supported by the Association des journalistes Professionnels (AJP, Belgium) alongside their yearly Summer School for young journalists in Belgium. Journalists coming from 13 European countries (including Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Estonia, France, Finland, Macedonia, Montenegro, Lithuania, Russia,…

New report highlights the poor working conditions of BiH journalists

A Special report on the status and cases of threats against journalists in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) was published on Monday 28 August 2017 by the Institution of Human Rights Ombudsman of BiH. The publication highlights the very bad employment status of journalists in the country, as well as the increase of violence, harassment and attacks against them. Some of the key findings highlighted in the report are: According to the BiH Journalists’ Association research, between 34% and 40% of journalists work in Bosnia and Herzegovina without adequate employment agreements, while those working with agreements are not sufficiently protected. Journalists…