The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) congratulates Dragan Bursać for receiving the European Press Prize 2018 on 15 March 2018 in the category ‘Opinion’ for his column “The Third Shooting of the Boy Petar from Konjic”, in Budapest, Hungary. Bursać works as a columnist for Al Jazeera Balkans. He lives in Banja Luka, a Bosnian city dominated by a Serbian population. Bursać became known for his critical writing about nationalism. The story for which he was awarded describes the tragic fate of the seven-year-old Bosnian Serb boy Petar who was killed during the Bosnian War. Because of his journalistic work, Bursać received multiple threats,…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined 61 civil society organisations on 13 March 2018 in a letter to the European Parliament calling for stronger safeguards for journalists and citizens who exercise their right of access to information in the wake of murdered Slovakian journalist Ján Kuciak. The statement was sent to all 751 Members of the European Parliament in preparation of a plenary debate on “Protection of investigative journalists in Europe: the case of Slovak journalist Ján Kuciak and Martina Kušnírová” in Strasbourg on 14 March 2018. The letter underlines the importance of the right to access to information in fighting…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) condemns the verbal attacks on journalists delivered by Czech President Milos Zeman during his inauguration speech on 8 March 2018 in Prague. Mr. Zeman accused the Czech public broadcaster of granting too much coverage to the TOP 09 conservative political party. He further went on to allege a general manipulation by liberal news outlets. Karolina Blinkova, a spokeswoman of Czech Television (CT) dismissed his accusations of biased news coverage in favour of the TOP 09 political party as attacks on the independence of the media: “We absolutely reject any attacks on journalists and independence of…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) held the final conference of the 18-month campaign ”Media Against Hate” to counter hate speech in the media in Brussels, on 5-6 March 2018. The conference was attended by around 60 participants from all over Europe including journalists, community media, media regulators, journalists’ unions, IT companies and policymakers. Harlem Désir, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media opened the conference with a keynote speech. He emphasised high ethical standards in journalism and effective self-regulation are key to combat hate speech and disinformation in the media. Mr. Désir said, ” This is a challenging…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) welcomed the letter sent to Frans Timmerman, the vice-president of the European commission, initiated by six Members of the European Parliament (MEPs)  on 19 February 2018 who called for the introduction of a new EU directive that addresses Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP) towards journalists. The letter was signed by the following MEPs: David Casa (European People’s Party), Ana Gomes (Socialists and Democrats), Monica Macovei (European Conservatives and Reformists), Maite Pagazaurtundúa (Alliance of Liberals and Democrats), Stelios Kouloglou (European United Left, GUE/NGL), and Benedek Jávor (Greens). The proposed EU Anti-SLAPP directive would aim to protect journalists from vexatious, abusive lawsuits and other…

“Serbia has to establish an adequate environment for media work” said today Nils Muižnieks, Council of Europe (CoE) Commissioner for Human Rights, following a four-day follow-up visit to the country carried out from 19 to 22 February 2018. As concerns freedom of the media, the Commissioner noted the agreement of all media actors that he met that Serbia has a solid legislative framework governing this field. ”Serbia also has great investigative journalists, some of whom have been presented with prestigious international awards. The Commissioner for Information of Public Importance, whose importance for investigative journalists’ work cannot be overstated, is a…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) welcomed the release of Turkish-German journalist Deniz Yücel, correspondent for the German daily newspaper Die Welt, who spent 366 days in pre-trial detention without indictment. His lawyer, Veysel Ok, confirmed on 16 February that the court in Istanbul ordered Yücel’s release, pending trial. He does not face any ban from leaving the country. On 14 February 2017, Yücel was first taken into custody upon accusations of being a member of a terrorist organisation, spreading propaganda and misusing information and subsequently jailed. His conditions of detention had deteriorated in March 2017, when he was put in…

This is the welcoming speech given by Mogens Blicher Bjerregård, president of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), at the conference “Free European Media” which took place in Gdansk, 15-16 February 2018.   Distinguished hosts, colleagues, partners, guests – welcome to this conference that is a part of a larger program focusing on the increasing conflict between media and politics that we witness recently. The organisers for this conference are European Federation of Journalists, the Council of Europe, the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom, the International Press Institute and the Nordic Journalism Centre. This conference should not be seen as…

A new report about the fact-finding mission conducted by the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) which investigated the media situation in Estonia and Lithuania from 22 to 24 January can be found here. Members of the mission interviewed almost 30 experts: representatives of the government, academia, press councils, public service media, journalists‘ organisations, investigative journalists, editors-in-chief and CEOs of major media companies. The two Baltic states were chosen in the wake of a wave of disinformation spread by Russian specialists during the US election campaign. The question, whether the comparatively small societies of Estonia and…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined its affiliates in Serbia, the Journalists’ Association of Serbia (UNS), the Independent Journalists’ Association (NUNS) and the Journalists’ Union of Serbia (SINOS) in expressing concerns about the new dismissal on 29 January 2018 of Slobodan Arežina, programme director of regional public broadcaster Radio Television Vojvodina (RTV). Arežina was first dismissed in May 2016, due to an alleged decline in ratings, and the lack of a Program Production and Broadcasting Plan for 2016. The Court of Appeal stated that Arežina was unlawfully dismissed and ruled for his readmission. He was reinstated in December 2017 but not allowed…

Over 150 journalists, representatives of media organisations, media regulators and press councils, as well as academics, politicians and human rights activists are expected to attend the “Free European Media” Conference to take place in Gdansk (Poland) on 15 – 16 February 2018. The conference is organised by the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), in cooperation with the Council of Europe, the Nordic Journalism Centre, the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom and the International Press Institute, with the support of Polish journalists associations, local authorities and European Trade Union Federations, to address the importance of uncensored pluralistic media, a crucial element of liberal democracy. Participants…

The European Federation of Journalist’s (EFJ) Swiss affiliates, Impressum and Syndicom, have called for support for the workers from Swiss news agency SDA-ATS, who have been on strike since 29 January 2018. The EFJ expresses its solidarity with workers affected by the SDA-ATS job cuts. The news agency began their strike at 2pm on Tuesday afternoon, which has continued past its scheduled time of 2-5pm on 29 January and is still ongoing. The workers are striking after the agency announced on 9 January 2018 that up to 40 out of their 180 total employees are at risk of losing their jobs,…

The European Federation of Journalists’ (EFJ) supports its German affiliates, the Deutscher Journalisten-Verband (DJV) and the dju in ver.di, in their statement of support for the constitutional complaint of foreign journalists against the Federal Intelligence Service (BND-G) law on “overseas surveillance” of telecommunications operations. The complaint by foreign journalists was filed in December, and presented publicly on 30 January 2018 in Berlin. It criticises the insufficient protection of fundamental rights of foreign journalists from surveillance measures. Among the plaintiffs are renowned investigative journalists, including the winner of this year’s Alternative Nobel Prize Khadija Ismayilova (Azerbaijan), Blaž Zgaga (Slovenia) and Richard…

The European Federation of Journalists joined its affiliate in Czech Republic, the Syndikat novinaru Ceske republiky, in condemning the violence against journalists that occurred on 27 January 2018 in Prague, during the re-election of the President Milos Zeman. Last Saturday, supporters of Milos Zeman physically harassed journalists at the president’s election headquarters, where journalists were reporting on the President’s re-election. As captured in this video footage, reporters were pushed, punched and one camera’s reporter was threw to the ground in order to prevent him filming. The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir, condemned the violence against reporters and urged a…

Journalism is under tremendous economic pressure in the Baltics. This opens the door to political influence and PR. The governments of Estonia and Lithuania answer this with very different approaches. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) investigated the media situation in Estonia and Lithuania from 22-24 January 2018. They interviewed almost 30 experts, among them representatives from the government, academia, press councils, public service media, journalists’ organisations, investigative journalists, editors-in-chief and CEOs. First, the good news: concerning media freedom and pluralism, Estonia and Lithuania are doing comparatively well. Considering the…

By Joshua Hollingdale, Dansk Journalistforbund The photojournalist from Danish daily Politiken, Martin Lehmann, was acquitted on the 22 January 2018 in a case concerning the legality of refusing a command by the police to remove himself from a Danish motorway, where a large group of refugees were travelling by foot. The acquittal was viewed as a matter of principle, largely based on a regard to public interest and freedom of the press. Lehmann was arrested by Danish police on 9 September 2015 for refusing a command by officers to leave the motorway where the group of refugees were walking, and…