An agreement was reached on Tuesday 15 December between the European Parliament and the Council on the controversial draft Trade Secrets Directive. After intense debates, the final text improve the legal certainty as regards the exception for exercising the right to freedom of expression and information but journalists and media associations will remain vigilant. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), Reporters Without Borders (RWB), the European Magazine Media Association (EMMA), the European Newspaper Publishers’ Association (ENPA) and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU – UER) take note of the generally positive amendments made to the initial draft Directive on Trade Secrets.…

The Finnish freelance association, which is part of the Union of Journalists in Finland (Suomen Journalistiliitto) on 9 November with more than 200 freelancers participating. The meeting will discuss new opportunities in the media including non-tradition media for freelances?  What is the future for the journalist profession? How to make work-related  changes? How to confront new challenges and find new solutions?  FREE10 seminar in December! The Finnish freelance journalists’ association celebrates its 10th anniversary at this event FREE10 Seminar Centre Lume, Sampo Hall in Helsinki 12.9.2015. The European Federation of Journalists and its Freelance Expert Group wish happy birthday and…

“It is a chronicle death of Turkish media” proclaimed by Yavuz Baydar, a journalist and columnist. Özgür Düşünce outlining the dramatic deterioration of media freedom when it comes to safety, freedom, legal restrictions and the judiciary during a panel organised by the Bussels-based European Policy Centre on 3 December. The almost complete seizure of what is left of independent media has increased prior to the November elections. Also Turkey’s public broadcaster TRT has not given any space to the opposition, which had not been the case in the June 27 elections, he said. Cengiz Çandar, journalist and columnist for Radikal and…

In view of the ongoing trilogue negotiations, informal tripartite meetings attended by representatives of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on reaching the proposal for an EU directive (also know as trade secrets directive) “on the protection of undisclosed know-how and business information against their unlawful acquisition, use and disclosure”, journalists’ and media organisations expressed their concern regarding a potential damaging impact on press freedom. A letter has been sent to the rapporteur, shadow-rapporteurs, members of the European Parliament of the Legal Committee, the Permanent representatives of the EU member states (COREPER) and relevant  contacts in the European…

EFJ Director Renate Schroeder was invited by the European Free Alliance/The Greens to a panel discussion about “Press Freedom-keeping Journalists safe” yesterday in the European Parliament. She informed the meeting about the different activities the EFJ is involved when it comes to mapping media freedom, the Council of Europe Platform to promote the protection of journalism and safety of journalists and pledged the EP to stand up for journalist’ rights, media freedom and democracy, which at the moment is too often compromised by geopolitical interest. Sasa Lekovic, President of EFJ affiliate, the Croatian Journalists’ Association, and co-author presented the SEEMO…

The European Federations of Journalists (EFJ) and its members from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey (in picture) spoke out against media violations in their countries and call for more actions in a conference held on 4 November in Brussels by the European Commission (DG NEAR) to highlight the media freedom situation and progress made in Western Balkans and Turkey. A high-level meeting, the “Speak Up conference on Freedom of Expression and Media in the Western Balkans and Turkey” was kicked off by the European Commissioner in charge of European Neighbourhood Policy & Enlargement Negotiations, Mr Johannes Hahn. Unfortunately, hardly any progress is echoed by…

Within the framework of  the #seemediapartnership, the Center for Independent Journalism, Romania in cooperation with the Albanian Media Institute organised a regional conference on journalists’ employment conditions in South Eastern Europe in Tirana last week. Together with EFJ affiliates from Bosnia, Bulgaria, Montenegro and future members from Albania and Kosovo, participants discussed an action plan on how to improve the situation of journalists in the Balkan including capacity building of journalists’ organisations, Social dialogue, improved legal and labour protection for all journalists independent of their employment relation. Independent judiciary, rules on media concentration but also media education/media literacy and funding…

On the invitation of Jutta Steinruck, German MEP and Rapporteur for the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs for the opinion on ‘Towards a Digital Single Market’, the EFJ participated in a conference on “Employment and social security in the Digital Single Market: Chances and Challenges”. “We may move towards a trend of casualisation threatening collective bargaining and freedom of association,with increasingly outsourced work”, warned Valerio de Stefano from the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The more important it is for unions to organise in the digital economy, to advocate for fundamental rights for all workers and for companies to be…

”Two weeks ago I would have been much more pessimistic when it comes to ‘Social Europe’, but it seems that the European Commission led by President Jean-Claude Juncker  is working on a package, which has a strong social dimension, something the EU has lacked dramatically in recent years,” said Thomas Händel (GUE/NGL, Germany), Chair of the European Parliament Committee on Employment and Social Affairs. Philippe Leruth, Chair of the EFJ Labour Rights Expert Group and EFJ Director Renate Schroeder had a open discussion with the German MEP Händel covering themes such as the increasingly precarious working conditions in the  media and journalism…

In view of the ongoing trilogue negotiations, informal tripartite meetings attended by representatives of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on reaching  the proposal for an EU directive “on the protection of undisclosed know-how and business information (trade secrets) against their unlawful acquisition, use and disclosure”, journalists’ and media organisations express their great concern regarding a potential damaging impact on press freedom. The following letter has been sent to the rapporteur, shadow-rapporteurs, members of the European Parliament Legal Committee, the Permanent representatives of the EU member states (COREPER) and relevant  contacts in the European Commission. Trade Secret versus…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has written to Michel Platini, President of the the Union of European Football Association (UEFA) calling for an immediate investigation of the ban imposed by the Croatian Football Federation (HNS) on journalists and photographers working for the Croatian daily Index.hr. On 24 September, the HNS issued a ban on journalists from Index.hr preventing them from covering any events and press conferences. The journalists are also banned from attending football matches of the national football team and covering press conferences as well as entering HNS premises. Only yesterday  journalists of Index.hr portal  were physically restrained…

A new report “Balancing act: press freedom at risk as EU struggles to match actions with values” published by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) was launched at the Press Club-Europe in Brussels on 29 September. Jean-Paul Marthoz, CPJ’s EU correspondent and author of the report, said at a press conference that “the future of the EU’s global influence will largely determined by its credibility and consistency by following a press freedom diplomacy based on principles and free of double standards.” The report examines EU policies and institutions, finding that while they maintain an outward commitment to press freedom, in many cases…

How do journalists work in digital media?? The EFJ asks this  question in a European-wide survey drafted by its Expert Group on Digital Media. The EFJ hopes to get a better overview about the working conditions of  “digital journalists” in EU member states and beyond.  How different are contracts, salaries and fees for online journalists? How is work satisfaction? What needs to be improved and what role can the union play to enhance working conditions of journalists working in digital media? Responses to these and many other questions are expected from this survey geared at journalists working for digital media…

The Croatian Journalists’ Association (CJA) urges journalists and all other persons in charge in public and private media to be careful and professional when reporting about refugees entering Croatia. The CJA urges journalists to avoid hate speech and not to publish unverified information. The CJA also calls on editors of internet portals not to publish readers’ comments that might provoke intolerance, xenophobia and hate speech. We urge media to reveal any attempt of political actors, who want to use refugees for political and pre-election aspirations, and to explain and analyse the reasons of refugees for leaving their home countries and…

In Portugal the EFJ affiliate, the Sindicato dos Jornalistas‘s newly elected board initiated a freelance campaign starting with a survey about the situation of freelance journalists in Portugal, something which had not been conducted since 2001. In Portugal, trade unions still regard freelances as a new and sometimes unaccepted work form. The union had asked its members registered as freelancers (almost 10% of the total membership) to answer an online questionnaire. The main results which were recently discussed within the membership (see picture above), are the following: Age: average age is 41; Gender: 61.3% are men; 38;7% are female Employment…

As the media industry grows more freelances, so the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) in the UK and Ireland is trying to ascertain how to attract freelances into membership. The main question is: What services and benefits could the union offer to freelances that are not covered in our ’10 Reasons’ leaflet ? As everyone agrees, the priority for freelances in the current climate is to find work – work that pays! One of our members has suggested a Freelance Salon, an event with speakers who will discuss how to go beyond the traditional pitch to editors and navigate new…