The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) welcomes the publication of the European Commission report on the rule of law situation in the European Union. The EFJ calls on member states to put an end as soon as possible to the multiple violations of press freedom found in the report. “We present the first ever Rule of Law Report today,” said the European Commission Vice-President for Values and Transparency, Věra Jourová. “Democracy, rule of law and fundamental rights are the foundations on which everything else is based in the EU: our rights, the freedom of the press or the independence of…

Together with a coalition of 19 organisations, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) urged the European Commission to remain firm and use all the political and legal tools to stop the dismantling of the rule of law, democracy and media freedom by the Hungarian authorities. The signatories of a joint letter sent to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, expressed their full support to Vice-President Věra Jourová following attacks by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his government. “For…

Turkish journalist Abdullah Bozkurt, who is exiled in Sweden, was attacked near his home in Stockholm by three men on 24 September. The International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ/EFJ) stand in solidarity with Abdullah Bozkurt and join the Swedish Union of Journalists in calling for a thorough investigation into the attack. Shortly after he left his apartment in a suburb of Stockholm, Bozkurt was attacked by three men who knocked him to the ground and punched him and then left the area. Bozkurt suffered injuries to his face, head, arms and legs and had to be treated in an…

Update (01/10/2020) Two reporters with the French newspaper Le Monde were injured by Azerbaijani artillery in the town of Martuni, part of the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, on Thursday morning, Armenia’s foreign ministry said.The two French reporters were taken to hospital. Two Armenian journalists were also hurt in the shelling, according to Armenian authorities. Several journalists were interviewing residents in Martuni and assessing damage from previous bombardments when the shelling started. ————————– Armenia announced on Sunday it was declaring martial law and mobilising its army. It claimed its neighbour Azerbaijan had launched a military operation inside a breakaway region called…

Media Councils release for the first time a comprehensive overview of journalistic self-regulation in Europe. The study highlights the importance of media councils in promoting journalistic standards in a context of proliferation of online disinformation. Independent media councils play an important role with regard to the respect of journalistic ethics. They offer journalists with guidance and tools for their daily work and give the public the opportunity to hold journalists and media to account through a fair complaints procedure. The basic idea behind all media councils is the same: a truly independent media system requires self-regulation, for the simple reason…

“A big TV cannon comes over to me and tells me that if I do not suck his cock, then he will ruin my career. I said no.” It is the 26th of August, TV presenter Sofie Linde is hosting the Zulu Comedy Gala in Copenhagen, and with these words she just started the #MeToo movement in Denmark. The statement came as a bombshell in the country. In response, as a sign of solidarity, 701 female journalists and media workers signed a letter in which they denounced a culture of sexism: “You are right. We experienced it too,” they said…

On Saturday and Sunday in Belarus, 15 journalists were arrested for covering protests against the presidential inauguration, electoral fraud and violence. Most of these journalists have been released, but 15 journalists are still in prison. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) demands their release. On 26 and 27 September, 15 journalists covering mass demonstrations in Belarus were arrested in Minsk, Grodno and Mahilou. Most were released, but four of them, including Russian journalist Anastasia Alshanskaya, 26 years old, remain in prison. They join the list of eleven other journalists who were still in detention. The EFJ joins its Belarusian affiliate,…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins its affiliates in France and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) in condemning the knife attack that left two media workers injured in Paris on Friday near the former offices of the weekly “Charlie Hebdo”. This Friday, late in the morning, a man armed with a knife attacked two people on the pavement, seriously injuring them, before fleeing, leaving the weapon on the spot. He was arrested at around 12.30 pm. An alleged accomplice was also intercepted by the police. The two injured, a man and a woman, are staff members of Premières…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and its affiliate the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) call on the Belarusian authorities to immediately release journalist Yahor Martsinovich. On Wednesday 23 September, the editor-in-chief of the weekly Nasha Niva, Yahor Martsinovich, was arrested on suspicion of defamation in a report mentioning the Belarusian Deputy Minister of the Interior, Alyaksandr Barsukou. The journalist’s flat was searched by police. Yahor Martsinovich was held in pre-trial detention for 3 days. The EFJ and BAJ once again call on the Belarusian authorities to decriminalise defamation. “We consider that the criminal proceedings against Yahor Martsinovich are primarily…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) together with 16 press freedom, journalists, media literacy and media development organisations sent a letter to the German presidency of the Council of the European Union in light of the ongoing discussion on the EU budget and the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2021-2027. The MMF covers the Creative Europe budget which includes support for independent media and journalism. The coalition likewise wrote to the European Parliament’s Budget Commission and to EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn responsible for Budget and Administration. The MFF regulation is adopted under a special legislative procedure, which requires unanimity to…

Together with partner organisations, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) signed a letter to shed light on the repeated cases of police violence and intimidation against journalists in Bulgaria as well as the restrictions for the press to engage with lawmakers in the new headquarters of the Bulgarian National Assembly. The letter reads as follows: 24 September 2020 Dear Boyko Borissov, Prime Minister of Bulgaria Dear Hristo Terziyski, Interior Minister of Bulgaria Dear Tsveta Karayancheva, Speaker of the National Assembly cc Diana Kovacheva, head of the Ombudsman of the Republic of Bulgaria We, the undersigned partners of the Media Freedom…

In a letter dated 2 June 2020, József Magyar, the Hungarian deputy secretary of state for development of European affairs at the ministry of foreign affairs and trade, asked Hungarian embassies in the European Union to provide information about the professional visits of Hungarian journalists to the respective EU countries. The letter, unveiled on 21 September by the online news platform Telex, requests embassies to report professional visits, training courses and research trips for Hungarian journalists in recent years. Hungarian representations were asked to report when these trips abroad took place, which Hungarian media participated, and which organisations or press…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) together with the MFRR partners reiterated their serious concern in a letter to Chairperson of the Albanian Parliament, Gramoz Ruçi and Albanian parliamentarians about the controversial package of online media laws amendments, which in their current form falls short of international law and standards. Dear Chairperson of the Parliament, Mr Gramoz Ruçi, Dear Honourable Members of Parliament, We are writing to express our grave concern about the apparent plans of the Parliament of Albania to ignore the issues raised in Venice Commission Opinion No. 980/2020 of 19 June 2020, further threatening press freedom and…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) welcomes the agreement reached on Thursday at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to send an international expert mission to Belarus. As requested by the EFJ and Human Rights Watch on 26 August, finally 17 governments of OSCE participating states agreed on Thursday evening to activate the so-called “Moscow Mechanism”, which allows the OSCE to send an international expert mission to a state suspected of human rights violations. Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, The Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United…

Together with a coalition of 25 organisations and companies, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) urged members of the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee (LIBE) to include strong procedural safeguards to protect journalists in the so called “e-evidence regulation”. The EFJ had expressed concern several times in the past about the Commission’s proposal for a regulation on European Production and Preservation Orders for electronic evidence in criminal matters (known as ‘e-evidence regulation’) as it could pose a serious threat for freedom of the media, freedom of expression and freedom of information without robust safeguards.  The signatories…

On September 17, 2000, Georgiy Gongadze, well-known Ukrainian journalist and founder of popular Ukrainian online newspaper Ukrayinska Pravda, was murdered. His decapitated body was found on November 2, 2000, about 100 km from Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv. Georgiy’s murder is considered by many to be the most important crime against a journalist in the history of independent Ukraine because the state’s highest leaders were involved in it. Concretely, the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The perpetrator, Oleksiy Pukach, a former general and high-ranking official of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, is currently serving a jail sentence for…