The Safety of Journalists Toolbox presents national instruments and initiatives from across the OSCE region and makes them accessible to interested stakeholders. It is a practical instrument to showcase existing measures on the safety of journalists from across the entire OSCE region and thereby encourage further action. The Toolbox is the result of the work carried out in the framework of the OSCE RFoM project on the Safety of Journalists | OSCE and builds upon longstanding OSCE commitments. It provides an accessible and user-friendly set of tools to guide not only participating States, but also media outlets, journalists and civil…

As the Council of the EU is expected to vote on the AI Act on 2 February 2024, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) urges the EU Member States to reach a long-awaited political agreement on this important text for journalism. The media reported that Germany and France were still blocking several provisions just a few days before the vote, suggesting that negotiations are not yet completely concluded. They fear that this regulation will subject their startups to increased scrutiny related to foundation models. In Germany, the coalition government could withhold its backing for the law. With an internal consultation…

30 January 2024 11:00 CET Register here   On 30 January, international media freedom groups will hold a webinar and press conference to mark the publication of a major report assessing the landscape for press freedom and independent journalism in Greece, following a mission to Athens in September 2023. The report examines the clear period of deterioration in media freedom in the EU Member State over the last few years, identifies the reasons behind this deterioration, and sets out recommendations for steps to be taken to address these many challenges. It also provides a detailed analysis of the measures taken…

Journalists sometimes find themselves in high-risk environments for their physical safety, because of the nature of the assignment or because they are ill-equipped and poorly trained in safety issues. According to a 2022 EFJ survey about the risk perceptions and safety concerns of journalists in Europe, media professionals seriously lack training and awareness while threats and intimidation at work are increasing. Based on these findings, the ‘Local Cross-Border Investigative Journalism’ (CBLocal) project integrated an important element of journalists’ safety in its grant programme supporting cross-border investigations. Four journalists underwent an online safety course for two weeks with media safety expert…

25 January 2024 10:00 CET Register here On 15 December 2022, the European Council granted Bosnia and Herzegovina candidate status for EU membership. While Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 accelerated the EU enlargement process, Bosnia and Herzegovina has yet to improve its environment for the media to continue on its path towards potential EU accession, as limited progress has been made since submitting its application in 2016. In this MFRR webinar, speakers will discuss the findings of a recent press freedom fact-finding mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, highlighting the suffocating environment for independent journalists in the country and…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) will join a mission to Romania with the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR). The mission aims to take the pulse of the current state of press freedom and independent journalism as the country gears up for a super electoral year in 2024. The mission will consist of two parts: an initial online fact-finding element involving meetings with media, journalists and civil society stakeholders, followed by an in-person visit to Bucharest later in the year to meet with political leaders and state authorities. The initial element of the mission will take place over the week…

The Croatian Parliament began on 18 January 2024 reviewing amendments to the criminal code tabled by the government to criminalise the unauthorised leaking of documents from criminal proceedings. The text provides for up to three years’ imprisonment for anyone disclosing the contents of “an investigative or evidentiary document”. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined its affiliate, the Croatian Journalists’ Association (CJA), in calling for the proposed legislation to be dropped, as it would have alarming repercussions for journalistic sources and the right to information. While a paragraph has been added to exempt journalists from criminal liability, the proposed amendments…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined the undersigned international freedom of expression and media freedom organisations today in renewing our condemnation of a groundless defamation lawsuit filed against Greek journalists and media by Grigoris Dimitriadis, the nephew of the Prime Minister, and urge the plaintiff to urgently withdraw the lawsuit ahead of an upcoming hearing. With the first hearing due at an Athens court of First Instance on 25 January, 2024 after a year-and-a-half delay, our organisations restate our shared characterisation of this lawsuit as a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) – a vexatious effort to muzzle investigative…

Come to the Voices Festival as an awardee! The Voices Awards are organised within the Voices Festival, a brand-new itinerant event co-funded by the European Commission to celebrate Journalism and Media Literacy in Europe. It will recognize the works of journalists that best convey the values and goals of the Voices Festival, which will take place in Florence on 15-16 March 2024. The award winners will receive a monetary award of €1.000 each and will have a dedicated space to present their work to the Festival community. Journalists can apply to one of the five categories: 1. Up-and-coming: innovative and…

Russia launched two massive attacks in Ukraine between 29 December 2023 and 2 January 2024, which injured three journalists and damaged four newsrooms. The International and European Federation of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) condemned the attacks in the strongest terms and expressed solidarity with the media workers targeted. On 30 December 2023, two employees working for the German TV channel ZDF were injured by the shelling of the Kharkiv Palace Hotel which was mostly occupied by media workers at that moment. As a result, a security guard of foreign nationality who was working as a security advisor to ZDF, had to undergo…

The Local Media for Democracy project (LM4D) is supporting 25 small media outlets and freelance journalist groups from around Europe in the second round of funding. They will receive a total of  €667,854 funding as well as mentorship to strengthen their reach and funding models so that they can better serve their local communities. The 25 media outlets and journalist groups are from: Bulgaria (1), Czech Republic (3), France (2), Greece (1), Latvia (1), Lithuania (2), Poland (6), Portugal (3), Romania (3), Slovakia (1), Slovenia (2) and Spain (1).  The jury, whose identities are anonymous, selected initiatives that operate in…

As the negotiations on the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) are drawing to a close, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) today co-signed a letter to the policymakers calling for international standards to be respected on the protection of journalistic sources (Article 4). Considered a basic condition for press freedom by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), the protection of sources risks being weakened by EU Member States. The signatories are deeply concerned about the chilling effect that could ensue if the final text maintains the paragraph to the national security responsibilities of Member States and sets conditions for…

To mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, on 25 November 2023, the Gender and Diversity Expert Group (GENDEG) of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) reminds all media workers and media organisations that violence is not part of the job. Female journalists are heavily affected by physical, psychological and sexual violence as part of their work. Surveys carried out between 2018 and 2023 in the following European countries reveal that:  In Belgium, 4 out of 10 female journalists experienced harassment in newsrooms; In Spain, 88% of the female media workers reported having suffered situations of…

The Broadcasting Expert Group (BREG) of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), which represents public service media experts from all over Europe, strongly supports the strike by France 3’s local programs. Since 4 September 2023, an absurd, fast-track reform has been imposed on employees, suppressing national news editions and putting regional editions in serious difficulty. Our colleagues in local newsrooms across France are having to produce much more content without additional resources. Staff are already stretched to the limit, and there is a shortage of additional journalists across all local programs. Employees are exhausted, overworked and stressed. They do not…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined its partners in the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) and the Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe (CASE) in deploring the lawsuit against Dutch daily newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad (FD) and stand in solidarity with the FD and its journalists. The case, of which the hearing will take place on 13 November 2023, is a clear attempt to silence and discourage Het Financieele Dagblad and its journalists from further reporting. On April 6, 2023, het Financieele Dagblad (FD), a Dutch daily newspaper specialising in business and finance, received a summons from Willem Blijdorp, founder…

The European Union is set to miss a critical opportunity to demonstrate that it is on the side of those who hold power to account. The trilogue negotiations concerning the Directive expected to fight Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) are coming to a close and the 74 undersigned organisations are sounding the alarm that, in the absence of certain key provisions, the anti-SLAPP Directive will fail to counteract the growing problem of SLAPPs in the EU. These provisions include first and foremost a strong early dismissal mechanism for all SLAPPs. If the Directive fails to ensure that all claims…