Blocking of online content and social media, throttling of internet traffic and shutdowns of entire websites constitute the most serious interference with online expression, preventing information from reaching its intended audience, states the fifth annual report by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjørn Jagland. The report analyses the state of democracy, human rights and the rule of law in Europe, based on the findings of the Council of Europe monitoring mechanisms and bodies. Among the main findings, the focus was drawn to the freedom of expression, especially concerning the troubling tendencies of intimidation and threats against journalists around Europe –…

Slovak journalists are demanding for action in the murder investigation of journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancee Martina Kušnírova, which after six months has not given any results. In an open letter, signed by over 300 Slovak colleagues, journalists call for not forgetting the murder and ensuring the independent investigation. European and International Federations of Journalists stand in support with their Slovak colleagues in asking the state authorities to ensure the continuation of a thorough and effective investigation without further delays. Slovak journalists are raising concerns on the actual independence of the current investigation of the murder, concerning the Kuciak’s own findings on…

RES-MPA correspondent Stratis Balaska has been under online and verbal attacks by members of neo-nazi movement “Golden Dawn” after publishing an editorial on August 15th. The publication covered history of Mytilene’s Chapel of Virgin Mary and its significance to the refugee women. Death threats, harassment and incitement to “punishment he deserves” were sent to journalists on Facebook. The threats online were a part of series of threats against Stratis Balaska because of his journalistic work. He was verbally attacked by three men, who he said to be extremists, on the street at the port of Mytilene, Lesbos, on August 12th. After…

One of six Finnish journalists have received some form of threats connected to their professional work, revealed a survey, conducted by the Union of Journalists of Finland (UJF) in 2016. Among them, topics focusing on issues related to immigration, asylum seeking and Russian interference prompt the most negative response and the highest number of attacks against journalists online. The Finnish newsrooms developed a number of measures and protocols to address the rising issue of online harassment, which proved to be successful. One of the advanced steps has been implemented by the public broadcaster Yle by introducing community management, which is…

Members of a TV crew working for German public broadcaster ZDF´s investigative political magazine programme Frontal21 were detained by police during 45 minutes, on 16 August, after a complaint by a participant at a Pegida (far-right) demonstration in Dresden. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins its German affiliates, DJV and dju in ver.di, in condemning the Saxon police action. Footage shot by the camera team, which included broadcast journalists Ulrich Stoll and Arndt Ginzel, shows a procession of demonstrators including one man shouting “Lügenpresse!” (“lying press”) while looking and pointing at the camera team. The footage also shows the…

UPDATE (21/08/2018): Ukrainian media and human rights organisations issued a statement today to condemn the so-called “interview” with detained journalist Stanislav Aseev aired by Rossiya 24. ————– Russian television channel Rossiya 24 has aired on August 17 an interview with kidnapped journalist Stanislav Aseev, in which he “confesses” to working for Ukrainian intelligence in Donbass. The interview has raised concerns that Aseev, who has been illegally imprisoned in Donetsk for over a year, was coerced into confessing to false espionage charges. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) has said it considers the “confession” of spying for the Ukrainian government given by Stanislav Aseyev “to…

A collaboration of a team of media scholars, Jakob-Moritz Eberla, Christine E. Meltzerb, Tobias Heidenreicha, Beatrice Herreroc, Nora Theorind, Fabienne Linda, Rosa Berganzac, Hajo G. Boomgaardena, Christian Schemerb, and Jesper Strömbäckd, resulted in a publication “European media discourse on migration and its effects: a literature review“, which sets to explore the landscape of media research covering the media discourse on immigration and its effects across Europe. The literature review addresses a general problem of under-representation and depicting migrants as delinquents or criminals. Although, media framing differs for specific migrant groups and used discourses, immigration coverage is often negative and conflict-centered, the publication shows. Repetitive exposure to negative messages on migrants leads to…

At this time of an unprecedented assault on the free press of the United States by the Trump administration, the European Federation of Journalists stands in solidarity with US journalists as they do their crucial work. Yesterday, 16th August 2018, around 350 American newspapers published coordinated editorial responses to President Donald J. Trump’s repeated attacks on free media. Professor Rasmus Kleis Nielsen (Reuters Institute) commented for the European Journalism Observatory that “Trump professes a strong dislike for much of the media, labelling those who have the temerity to offer anything other than unconditional support “the enemy of the American people”, and…

Series of administrative intimidation acts have been taken by the local authorities against Serbian news portal Juzne Vesti, with an increasing pressure in the last six months. The Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (NUNS) reported that the long lasting intimidation against the news portal works as a model for putting pressure on media critical to the government in Serbia. The last investigation of Juzne Vesti resulted in a legal notice against the news portal obliging it to pay a million dinars (more or less 8,400 EUR), even though no irregularities in tax activities were found. During the last five years, Juzne Vesti were subjected to…