Gender equality and diversity in the media are far from the reality, highlighted in a two-day conference organized by the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) in cooperation with its affiliate, the Andalusian Journalists Union (SPA) and the Federation of Journalists Unions (FeSP), in Malaga on 14 and 15 March. The conference is a part of a two-year project on “Trust in media” funded by the European Commission.  The conference also called for actions from media companies to step up their efforts and responsibility to make a culture change in the newsrooms. If the media wants to maintain trust from the…

Over 150 journalists, representatives of journalists’ organisations and press councils, as well as academics, politicians, and civil society activists gathered on 17-18 March at the Solidarność Centre in Gdansk, Poland, for the second edition of the Free European Media conference. Participants, including Vera Jourova, European Commission Vice-President, Patrick Penninckx, Head of Information Society Department of the Council of Europe, presented new recommendations to support the development of free media. Thursday evening’s event on the war in Ukraine brought together Ukrainian, Russian, Belarusian and Moldovan journalists, including Andrei Bastunets, President of the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) and Mykola Semena, delegate…

Ukrainian media outlet Hromadske has revealed today that one of its journalists, Victoria Roshchina, has been missing since 15 March 2022. The media fears that she is “a prisoner of the Russian occupiers”. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) calls for her immediate release. According to Hromadske, Victoria Roshchina had planned to go last week to Mariupol, a city that has been shelled by Russian troops for more than two weeks. On 12 March, her colleagues were unable to make contact. She was probably detained a few days later, on 15 March, by Russian forces in an unknown location. “For…

The Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) invites you to a summit taking place between 22-24 March focusing on boosting media freedom, strengthening independent media and ensuring the safety of journalists in Europe. The Summit panels will all be streamed online on the MFRR YouTube channel, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Specialised workshops for journalists, media professionals, journalist association representatives, and journalism students will take place on Zoom. Registration for the workshops is required. The MFRR Summit 2022 will open with a video message by Věra Jourová, Vice President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency, followed by a keynote address by Roberto Saviano, an Italian journalist and…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) today called on the international community to put pressure on Russia to end the blockade of Mariupol in Ukraine. A large-scale humanitarian disaster in this major city in eastern Ukraine must be avoided. The EFJ supports its Ukrainian affiliates, the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) and the Independent Media Trade Union of Ukraine (IMTUU), in their efforts to evacuate journalists and media workers from Mariupol. After a series of failures due to the lack of a ceasefire, evacuations in Mariupol accelerated on Tuesday as residents ran out of food and water. About 20,000…

Fox News camera operator Pierre Zakrzewski and Ukrainian producer and fixer Oleksandra Kuvshynova, also known as Sasha, were killed on 14 March while reporting from Horenka, a city close to Kyiv. Fox News reporter Benjamin Hall was seriously injured in the same attack. The International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ and EFJ) denounced the targeting of media workers reporting on the front lines in Ukraine and urged the international community to investigate these attacks. Fox News reported that the journalists’ vehicle “was struck by incoming fire” yesterday as the crew was heading towards the city of Irpin. Only Benjamin Hall’s serious condition following…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined its partners today in calling on the Member States of the European Union to set a global example of support for media freedom in crisis by extending emergency shelter and visa waivers to Russian journalists fleeing the country, as well as Belarusian journalists seeking refuge from war and repression. Independent journalists and media in Russia are currently experiencing the most severe and wide-ranging crackdown in the last thirty years. Leading broadcasters have been silenced or shuttered; dozens of news websites have been blocked; use of the word “invasion” or “war” have been banned;…

Fox News reporter Benjamin Hall was attacked and seriously injured on 14 March while reporting on the outskirts of Kyiv. The International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ and EFJ) condemn the systematic targeting of media workers reporting on the front lines in Ukraine and urge the international community to investigate these attacks. Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, said the news crew probably “came under mortar or artillery fire” from Russian forces as they were heading towards the city of Irpin, which sits just 20km north-west of Kyiv. He also confirmed on Telegram that Hall was in a serious condition…

The Russian authorities arrested journalist Marina Ovsyannikova, an editor with the Russian television channel Channel One, on 14 March. During the evening news, she appeared behind the presenter holding up a sign reading “No to war. Don’t believe the propaganda. They are lying to you. Russians against war”. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) demands the immediate release of the journalist. Marina Ovsyannikova interrupted the evening broadcast on Russian state TV network Channel One on Monday with a sign blasting Russian war against Ukraine. “Stop the war, no to war!” she shouted. Ovsyannikova was promptly arrested. The authorities say she…

An award-winning US journalist working in Ukraine, Brent Renaud, has been shot dead in Irpin, outside Kyiv, on Sunday 13 March. Ukrainian police said he had been targeted by Russian soldiers. Two other journalists were injured and taken to hospital. It is the first reported death of a foreign journalist covering the war in Ukraine. The International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) condemn the killing and call for the killers to be brought to justice. Brent Renaud, 50, was a journalist and documentary filmmaker who lived  and worked in New York City and Little Rock, Arkansas. He had previously…

Update 20.03.2022: Oleg Baturin was released on 20 March following eight-day detention by Russian soldiers. Ukrainian local journalist Oleg Baturin disappeared in Kakhovka, a city in Kherson region (Ukraine), on Saturday evening. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins its two Ukrainian affiliates, NUJU and IMTUU, in calling on the authorities to investigate this disturbing disappearance in a region where journalists live in terror of Russian reprisals. We call on any witnesses to contact journalists’ organisations. On Saturday 12 March, at about 4 pm, an acquaintance called Oleg Baturin, who is a journalist for “Novy Den” newspaper, and proposed to…

On 10 March, the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don (Russia) sentenced Remzi Bekirov, a correspondent for the Russian independent news website Grani, to 19 years in prison for allegedly organizing the activities of a terrorist organization, a charge he denied. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) call on the Russian authorities to immediately release Remzi Bekirov and all other Crimean Tatar journalists who are in prison for informing the public about human rights abuses against their ethnic group. On 27 March 2019, journalists Osman Arifmemetov and Remzi Bekirov were arrested in…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) welcomes the call for solidarity with Ukrainian journalists by the Russian Journalists and Media Workers’ Trade Union (JMWU). The EFJ also supports the legal action by the Journalists’ Union of the Russian Republic of Karelia against the new Russian censorship law and against the censorship imposed by the Russian regulator RKN. The independent Russian trade union JMWU on 7 March issued a message of solidarity to Ukrainian and Russian journalists who are trying to do their work in the public interest in an increasingly difficult environment: “Let’s call a spade a spade. Peace is…

The European Federation of Journalists joined Access Info Europe and 125 journalists, transparency, anti-corruption, open data organisations in calling upon the European Union institutions and the Member States to act urgently to open up company and beneficial ownership registers across the European Union to the public. This is crucial in exposing the assets and money of Russian oligarchs in the EU. We are deeply horrified by Putin’s incursion into Ukraine and the violation of the rule of law, human rights, and state sovereignty. We support the European Union in collectively taking a strong stance to defend democracy and our common…

A solidarity mission carrying half a ton of humanitarian aid for Ukrainian journalists left Athens on 9 March, headed by Maria Antoniadou, the President of the Journalists’ Union of the Athens Daily Newspapers (JUADN). The International and European Federation of Journalists (IFJ/EFJ) praised the ”incredible show of solidarity” by JUADN who organized the mission in collaboration with the Unified Journalists Organization of Subsidiary Insurance and Health Care  (EDOEAP) and supported by the Panhellenic Federation of Journalists Unions (PFJU). The aid, which will be delivered to IFJ/EFJ affiliates the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) and the Independent Media Trade Union of…

The International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) are calling on media employers to ensure the protection of reporters they send to war zones. The IFJ, EFJ and their affiliates in Ukraine, NUJU and IMTUU, note that many correspondents in Ukraine do not have bulletproof vests, ballistic helmets or medical kits. Newsrooms continue to send reporters to Ukraine without specific insurance and protection, while bulletproof vests are becoming increasingly difficult to obtain in Europe. Most European journalists travel to Ukraine via Krakow (Poland), where they thought they would be able to buy protective equipment. But it is impossible to buy…