The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) welcomes the adoption of the biggest collective agreement in Finland with Finnmedia, the body that represents the media industry in Finland, negotiated by the Union of Journalists in Finland (UJF). It will cover print newspapers, magazines, all web services and news agencies. The agreement is valid until 31 May 2022. The biggest achievement of the agreement is a pay rise, especially on the lower wages, along with the removal of the extra hours and the restoration of the Christmas holiday break. In addition, the extra hours will be compensated with paid training, a point…

Two columnists of the daily newspaper Yeniçağ, had their phones, Twitter and Gmail accounts hacked after writing an article about the death of Turkish soldiers in Libya. The European and International Federation of Journalists (EFJ/IFJ) and their affiliate DİSK Basın İş condemn the hacking of journalists’ working tools which is a blatant attack on press freedom. On Sunday, February 23, the daily newspaper Yeniçağ announced in a statement that two of its journalists, Batuhan Çolak and Murat Ağırel, fell victim to a cyber attack after publishing an article naming two Turkish soldiers killed in Libya. On Saturday (February 22), President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said in a statement that…

Lauren Moss, BBC’s South East political editor, was attacked by a member of the public moments before going live on air, on 19 February. The news reporter said on Twitter that she was preparing to broadcast from Brighton (England) when a man threw a cup of hot chocolate over her and used abusive language against the BBC. Someone may not approve of my work or who I work for but I am a journalist just doing my job. Anti-media feeling like this is very concerning for anyone in the industry. — Lauren Moss (@LaurenM0ss) February 19, 2020 Lauren Moss and…

Radiotelevisión Española (RTVE), the Spanish public broadcaster, has appointed the journalist, FSC-CCOO affiliate and member of the EFJ Broadcasting Expert Group (BREG), Carolina Pecharromán as the new Equality Editor of TVE, replacing the recently deceased Alicia Gómez Montano. She will start her new position on the 1st of March. Pecharromán‘s mission will be to guarantee equality between men and women in both content and presence on public television and radio, to launch initiatives that will help eliminate malpractices that may occur on RTVE, and to close the existing gender gap in the Spanish public service media. “It is our responsibility…

UPDATE (26.02.2020): The perpetrator has been sentenced on Tuesday 25 February 2020 during an immediate appearance procedure in Arrecife to a fine of 2,410 euros. A restraining order has also been issued for 16 months banning him from approaching the journalist at a distance of less than 300 meters. The man admitted the facts. He has been accused of the crime of sexual abuse and of the slight crime of injury. He must pay compensation for civil liability. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined its Spanish affiliate FAPE and its member the Asociación de la Prensa de Tenerife (APT)…

Collective bargaining is decreasing considerably in the European Union since 2000. According to the latest figures from the University of Amsterdam, at least 3.3 million workers stoped benefiting from a collective bargaining agreement compared to the beginning of the century. Its coverage has decreased in 22 of the EU’s 27 member states -an average of a 20%-, with the biggest fall registered in Romania (100% to 23%), Greece (100% to 25%) and Bulgaria (56% to 23%). This also leads to a huge disparity across Europe, with just 7% of workers benefiting from collective bargaining in Lithuania compared to 98% in Austria.…

Article originally published on journo.com Google should reconsider its decision to fund a “partisan” and “manipulative” Turkish media group  through its news innovation challenge, the Journalists’ Union of Turkey (TGS) has said yesterday in an open letter. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has backed the call saying that “Google should stop funding unethical media organisations that do not respect the principles of ethical journalism and the worker rights of journalists”. The Google News Initiative (GNI) announced the Demiroren Media Group as the only Turkish applicant selected to be funded through GNI Innovation Challenges, stirring an outcry among Turkey’s embattled journalists…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) welcomes the digital transformation’s working plan of the European Commission for the next five years unveiled in the report Shaping Europe’s Digital Future, published on 19 February. The European data strategy and the policy options to ensure the human-centric development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) are the first steps towards achieving these goals.  “Today we are presenting our ambition to shape Europe’s digital future. It covers everything from cybersecurity to critical infrastructures, digital education to skills, democracy to media”, said Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The Commission’s ambition in fostering a Digital Education Action Plan that…

“Was not competition law meant to “control” the big and powerful?” asked Professor Nicola Countouris, University College London, in the opening keynote address on “Re-thinking the competition law/labour law interaction: promoting a fairer labour market, in Dublin last week. The final conference on “Organising and bargaining for atypical workers” organised by the International Actors Federation (FIA) in cooperation with the EFJ, FIM (Musicians) and UNI-MEI (other media workers) brought together over 90 trade union leaders from the Arts, media and entertainment sector. Together with labour- and competition academics, the European Commission, the OECD and ILO representatives, the federations discussed how…