On Tuesday, 23 March 2021, from 2-3.30 PM, another digital skills webinar will take place. The European social partners behind Creative Skills Europe – the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the International Federation of Actors (FIA), the International Federation of Musicians (FIM), the Performing Arts Employers Associations League Europe (Pearle*) and UNI Europa media, entertainment & arts (EURO-MEI) are glad to invite you to this second webinar aimed at increasing the digital skills in the Live Performance and Audiovisual sectors. You can register for the webinar here. This second webinar is part of trilogy. After a first event held in November…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined MFRR partners in condemning the smear campaign aimed at the Network for Investigation of Crime and Corruption (KRIK) by pro-government media outlets that propagated the baseless and dangerous claim that KRIK has a ‘secret deal’ with Veljko Belivuk, a recently arrested leader of an organised crime group.  On 9th and 10th March, a number of pro-Government media outlets alleged that KRIK is coordinating with Belivuk to monitor or threaten the Serbian President, Aleksandar Vučić. Tabloid newspapers, including The Serbian Telegraph, Kurir and Alo published front-page articles that KRIK is Belivuk’s private media. Alo stated…

The European Journalists Federation (EFJ) welcomes the recent initiative of the European Commission for fairer pay. This day stands for the moment up to which women technically work for free compared to men. Different EU countries have their own Equal Pay Day and today in Germany, this day is on 10 March. “It is simply unacceptable that in only three EU countries the pay of women to their male colleagues is below 5%, while in other countries such as Germany, Austria and Estonia, wage differences of 19% to 21%  are still the case,” explains Andrea Roth, chair of the Labour…

In the afternoon on 8 March, journalist Levent Gültekin was attacked by a group of around 20 people just metres away from his workplace at the Halk TV station in Bakırköy, Istanbul. The European Federation of Journalists and its Turkish affiliates, the Journalists’ Union of Turkey (TGS), the Journalists’ Association of Turkey (TGC), the Journalists’ Association (GCD) and the Broadcast and Printing Press Workers Union, strongly condemn this brutal aggression and call for thorough investigations. The roots of such attacks, namely hatred-stirring, politically motivated online threats and insults, must also be addressed. The attack took place when Gültekin was on his way to the station as…

Belarus’ human rights situation has deteriorated further in recent weeks. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) believes this deterioration should be viewed in the context of the grave and systemic human rights violations the authorities committed in the run-up to the 2020 fraudulent presidential election and in its aftermath, for which there has been no accountability. The EFJ joins Amnesty International, the International Federation for Human Rights and Article19 in demanding action by the UN Human Rights Council to establish a new mechanism assisting the process of accountability for human rights violations in Belarus. Developments in recent weeks mark a…

Ahead of a major debate at the European Parliament on efforts by governments to silence free media, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined 18 other organisations in calling on the European Union to take decisive action to defend independent journalism and media freedom in Hungary, Poland and Slovenia. —————– Statement to Members of the European Parliament ahead of the March 10 debate: ‘Government’s attempt to silence free media in Poland and in Hungary’ Dear Members of the European Parliament, Article 11 of the European Union’s Charter on Fundamental Rights is under threat as media freedom and media pluralism deteriorates alarmingly…

On March 3, 2021, the Tverskoy District Court in Moscow, Russia, sentenced journalist Ilya Azar, a special correspondent for the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, to 15 days of detention and a fine of 150,000 rubles (1,680 euros) for allegedly organising illegal protests on Facebook. On March 5, the Moscow City Court rejected Azar’s appeal and said it would keep him in custody to serve his detention, according to the Russian Union of Journalists (RUJ). The court ruled that two of Azar’s posts on his Facebook page – one from March 2020, supporting a rally against constitutional amendments to allow President…

On 8 March International Women’s Day, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) calls for more vigorous actions to be made by governments and employers’ organisations to improve gender equality as the Covid crisis has deepened gender inequality.  Members of the EFJ experts groups on labour rights and freelances have looked at the working conditions of journalists during this period and noticed that working-from-home and lockdown policy has had a much greater impact on female journalists.  In Germany, according to a study from the Hans-Böckler Stiftung, women spend 1.7 hours more on work concerning family duties, since men tend to work…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) in calling on employers, legislators and law enforcement bodies to take action to tackle violence and harassment at work. Carried out January-February 2021, the ETUC survey of women union leaders in 21 European countries found that only 16% say that employers have updated their policies to address online harassment associated with telework; 23% thought that employers did enough to tackle violence and harassment at work, including online; 16% think their national laws are strong enough to tackle violence and harassment at work, including online; 17% believe their…

Update (13 and 23/03/2021) Denis Ivashin is the 10th journalist in jail in Belarus. His address: Prison № 1. 230023, Grodna, st. Kirava, 1, Belarus. Yasep Palubiatka is the 11th journalist behind bars in Belarus. —————————- Nine journalists are behind bars just for doing their job in Belarus. All are victims of the indiscriminate repression launched by the regime of illegitimate President Lukashenko. Some are serving an unjustified harsh sentence. Others are awaiting criminal trials. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins the call of the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) and invites you to send them a letter of…

The Media4Europe summit, organised on 3 March 2021 by Europe’s Media Lab (Fondation Euractiv), called for greater collaboration between media professionals and media outlets. Publishers, EU policy makers, media and journalists’ representatives, including EFJ President Mogens Blicher Bjerregard, discussed solutions to make the media sector more financially sustainable and close to citizens’ needs. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that journalists and reliable news information are more necessary than ever. It has also tested the weaknesses and limitations of most of the European media business models. The awareness at the European level is growing: “the health of the news media sector…

The German Journalists Association (DJV) has conducted a survey on the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on Freelance journalists in Germany. About one year after the beginning of the crisis, the results show that many freelance journalists face an increasingly precarious situationl due to insufficient support. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins its German affiliates in drawing attention to this particularly vulnerable group of journalists and in calling for improved financial mechanisms to address this issue. Between 29 January and 19 February 2021, 1,090 freelance journalists participated in the study. It found that the average annual income of freelancers…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) is organising a series of online webinars aiming to improve media reporting on Muslims and Islam. At times, media coverage and representations have too often been discriminatory, exclusive and biased, with many important voices left unheard. The upcoming training attempts to address these issues through ethical and unbiased reporting. There are 30 spots available for journalists from EU and candidate countries or Council of Europe members. The training aims to improve the understanding of Muslims and Islam through unbiased media reporting, connecting with Muslims and religious representatives as well as diversifying the medias’ respective views…

Italy’s largest mafia trial in three decades has begun, following a four-year long investigation into the Calabrian organised crime syndicate ‘Ndrangheta and its alleged affiliates networks, in Italy and abroad. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), the Italian Federation of Journalists’ unions (FNSI) and the Union of RAI journalists (USIGRai) condemned the decision of judges to ban cameras from their courtroom. Not allowing video recordings of Court proceedings means denying a pillar of the story. It also means preventing the construction of the memory of a historical fact for Italy and Europe. This is what is happening in the “Rinascita…

The repression of journalists continues to intensify in Belarus, in a context of passivity on the part of the international community. On 2 March, at 4 p.m., the Moskovsky District Court of Minsk announced its verdict. It convicted TUT.BY journalist Katerina Borisevich and doctor Artem Sorokin. They are accused of disclosing medical secrets. Katerina Borisevich was sentenced to six months in prison and a fine, Artem Sorokin to two years in prison with a one-year suspension and a fine. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) strongly condemns a court decision that violates press freedom and freedom of access to information.…

Registration The European Federation of Journalists invites you to attend the first MFRR Summit taking place online between 17th and 20th March. Locked Down: Protecting Europe’s Free Press will feature keynote speeches by Irene Khan and Věra Jourová, and bring together 32 journalists and experts from 16 countries to explore the threats facing media freedom in Europe across eight panels and two workshops. The Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) monitors, tracks and responds to media freedom violations in EU Member States and Candidate Countries. In its first year, through Mapping Media Freedom, 378 alerts (with 1159 attacked persons or entities related…