Prior to the anniversary of the murder of the Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia on 16 October, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has today joined a coalition of international organisations calling for a public inquiry into the her murder. The 26 international media freedom and journalists’ organisations have published an open letter to the Maltese Prime Minister, Mr. Joseph Muscat. The letter reads: Dear Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, I write to you on behalf of the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom and 25 organisations (listed below) representing thousands of journalists and human rights activists concerning Malta’s response…

Journalists and editors have written to the Lithuanian Centre of Registers complaining about the recent policy to restrict media’s access to public data. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) criticises the Centre for restricting free press and supports the requests made by the journalists to the Lithuanian government. On 14 September, the Lithuanian Centre of Registers ended its long-time practice of providing the media with registry data free of charge. This happened without any prior notice to the media. Since the new policy implemented, registry data are provided to the media for the same fees as those paid by other commercial users.…

On 2 October, the European Parliament approved the revised Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD). The new rules aim to guarantee a fairer regulatory environment for the entire audiovisual sector. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) welcomed in particular the new requirement for Member States to have independent regulatory authorities for audiovisual media services. The Directive establishes a set of criteria that the regulator has to follow in ordered to be considered independent. First of all, it should be legally distinct from the government and functionally independent. Secondly, it should not take instructions from any other body in accomplishing its tasks.…