Media leaders should stop seeing diversity as a “nice to have” and treat it as a a “must have” instead. That was determined by the latest study titled “Are Journalists Today’s Coal Miners? The Struggle for Talent and Diversity in Modern Newsrooms”, published on 15 July by the Reuters Institute in cooperation with the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz. The research investigated 28 news organisations and journalism schools in Germany, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. “Journalists must reach out to audiences that are becoming more and more diverse while newsrooms must be made attractive to a young and diverse talent…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and its German members “Deutscher Journalisten Verband” (DJV) and “Deutsche Journalistinnen- und Journalisten-Union in ver.di” expressed its solidarity with the German journalist Georg Restle, who became the target of online harassment culminating in death threat received by letter. The journalist had critically commented on the right wing party “Alternative für Deutschland” (AfD). Following the letter coming from “the right wing extremist scene”, his employer, the public service broadcaster “Westdeutscher Rundfunk” (WDR) has now filed a criminal complaint. On 11 July, Restle had described the AfD as the “parliamentary arm of a right-wing extremist movement”…

Three years after the coup attempt of July 2016, the crackdown against Turkish journalists continues. This week, at least 10 journalists were facing trial over “terror charges” in Turkey. Three acquittals, four adjournments and three jail sentences were ruled from Tuesday 16 to Friday 19 July. The International and European Federation of Journalists (IFJ/EFJ) stand in solidarity with the prosecuted journalists and call again on the Turkish authorities to drop all charges against the ones still facing trial on groundless charges. On 16 July, Deniz Yücel’s last hearing was adjourned, for the fourth time, until 17th October 2019. The correspondent…

On the eve of Ukraine’s July 21 extraordinary parliamentary elections, the International and European Federation of Journalists (IFJ/EFJ) have backed the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine’s (NUJU) call on all political parties to sign a Declaration on the Defense of Freedom of Speech. The Declaration was prepared by Ukrainian journalists and experts from the International and European Federation of Journalists and comprises a list of obligations and commitments on freedom of speech, the protection of journalists’ rights and the fight against impunity. The text includes the following seven principles: Respect for freedom of speech and expression. Do not take…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined its affiliate in Ukraine, the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU), in condemning the attack on private TV broadcaster 112 Ukraine. On 13 July, two unidentified persons targeted its office on Dehtiarivska street 21G, in Kyiv, using a grenade launcher. The attack happened at 3.27 am and was recorded by three CCTV cameras installed outside the media building. The incident caused damages to the facade and nearby parked cars, but didn’t injure anyone. At 3.40 am local residents alerted the police who found a spent tube used to fire a rocket-propelled grenade.…

Around 60 journalists and journalists’ representatives from 20 European countries attended the final conference of the project ‘Managing change in media’ on 10 and 11 October in Thessaloniki, Greece. Programme Business models & trends in journalism training and skills Alexandra Borchardt, ​former Reuters Institute – Are Journalists Today‘s Coal Miners? Andreas Heindl, ​ORF – Mitigating the stress induced by the digital transformation Dr. Dimitris Xenakis​, Inside Story – Inside Story The legal protection and litigation for freelances Renske Heddema​, NVJ – NVJ’s support of Legal Protection for Freelance (Photo) Journalists How can European Commission support media policy? Suzanne ​Vanderzande, ​Policy…

The International Press Institute (IPI) launched a new platform on 9 July called Ontheline Newsrooms providing best practices to counter online harassment against journalists. The platform was designed for newsrooms and journalists in four principal areas: moderation for both on-site comments and social media posts; newsroom structures and mechanisms designed to promote a culture of safety around online abuse; protocols for assessing and responding to attacks; and the roles and responsibilities of newsroom actors involved in these areas. The data were collected through interviews with over 110 editors, journalists and media experts as well as visits to 45 leading newsrooms…

The Trade Union Media of Montenegro (SMCG) signed an historic collective agreement with the public broadcaster Radio Television of Montenegro (RTCG) on 28 June, after three years of collective bargaining. According to SMCG, a valid collective agreement in the public broadcaster has not existed for almost 10 years. The document was signed by the Minister of culture Aleksandar Bogdanovic, the Managing Director of RTCG Bozidar Sundic, and the representatives of the trade unions Jadranka Drobnjak and Slavica Kruscic. It affects the daily work of more than 700 employees, out of which 300 are members of SMCG. The agreement is the…

When it comes to crediting photojournalists below their pictures, big german newspapers perform worse than smaller ones. That’s the result of the 2019 ranking by the EFJ German affiliate, Deutscher Journalisten Verband (DJV). The ranking is part of a campaign called “Photographers do have names” with the main goal to raise awareness about photojournalists who are often deprived of their right. DJV investigated 87 nationwide selected newspapers in a random sample and found out that smaller newsrooms performed far better in quoting photographers than bigger ones. This year, the three Bavarian Newspapers Fränkische Landeszeitung, Main Post and Nürnberger Nachrichten were…

Only 49% of the sample in the Digital News Report 2019 trust the news media they use, reveals the most recent Digital News Report published on 12 June by the Reuters Institute in cooperation with the University of Oxford. Based on data from 75,000 online news consumers in 38 countries on six continents, the 2019 report focuses on trust in media and disinformation, models of payment, the impact of populism and the shift to private messaging apps. Trust in media is still diminishing The average level of trust in the news in general has fallen again 2 percentage points to…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) shares the outrage of its German affiliates Deutscher Journalisten Verband (DJV) and Deutsche Jounalisten Union (DJU) in ver.di about a new draft law by the German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) which  would remove protections prohibiting the country’s domestic and foreign intelligence services from hacking journalists’ devices during terrorism investigations. Under the current German law, journalists – along with priests, lawyers, doctors, and Members of Parliament – are granted special protection to limit their surveillance by intelligence agencies. According to the German newspaper Die Zeit, the new legislation would remove some of the protections…

On 14 June, the UK Representation to the European Union (EU) and the Mission of Canada to the EU hosted the event “Thought is free: Protecting and promoting media freedom”. In two panels, six discussants shared their thoughts on media freedom, fact checking, safety of journalists, the loss of trust in media and the daily struggles of female journalists. The event was organised in the lead of the Global Conference for Media Freedom to take place on 11-11 July in London. In his opening statement, the Ambassador of Canada Dan Costello quoted journalists to be “modern heroes”, listing a worrying…

On 3 June, a 50-year old journalist working for the public broadcaster France 3 Normandie was attacked while filming in front of the mosque As-salam in Petit-Couronne, a city near Rouen. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined its affiliates in France in strongly condemning the attack. The cameraman was alone taking background footage of the mosque for a report on the imam who was facing trial the same day, when suddenly a man, followed by a group of around 20 men, asked him to stop filming. The journalist was hit, thrown on the ground and had his camera broken.…

From 21 to 30 June 2019, the second European Games will take place in Minsk, the capital city of Belarus. The Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) published some guidelines for journalists covering the sports event related to accreditations, security measures and safe communications. The memos are available in English and Belarusian. “We hope, the guidelines will contribute to better safety of our colleagues who may face problems covering the games,” said Aleh Aheyeu, BAJ deputy chairperson and head of BAJ Legal Center for Protection of the Media. “We would also like to offer BAJ services and assistance to foreign journalists…

On May 29th, Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Matteo Salvini published a video on Facebook in which he threatened the journalist Roberto Saviano with the withdrawal of his police protection from mafia. Saviano has been under constant police protection since 2006, after he published the book “Gommora”, denouncing the practices of the Camorra, the Neapolitan mafia. In the video, Matteo Salvini sends a kiss to the camera, saying “A kiss to Saviano. I’m working on a revision of the criteria for the escorts that every day in Italy commit more than two thousand law enforcement workers.”.…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has welcomed the creation of a new fund for journalists who became victims of persecution or threats. It is a joint project of the Union of Journalists in Finland (UJF), five top Finnish media companies and several other representative organisations working in the media sector. The fund will be launched after midsummer and it is open to staff journalists as well as freelancers. It aims to help journalists facing legal threats such as cases of defamation as well as harassments. The foundation follows a spate of such cases in Finland in recent years, only…