On 7 March 2023, the Partner Organisations of the Platform to Promote the Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists, including the European and International Federations of Journalist (EFJ/IFJ), publish their 2023 annual report under the title “War in Europe and the fight for the right to report”. The report reveals a continued degradation of press freedom across the continent. Throughout 2022, the Platform documented 289 alerts concerning 37 countries, with journalists being murdered, imprisoned, physically attacked, legally harassed, and subjected to smear campaigns. The annual report has cast doubt on Member States’ commitment to upholding obligations on freedom of expression,…

On Tuesday 7 March 2023 the Council of Europe Platform to Promote the Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists, with the participation of partner organisations including the European and International Federations of Journalists (EFJ-IFJ), will launch its report “War in Europe and the Fight for the Right to Report” at the Brussels Press Club in Belgium. The annual report highlights key areas of law, policy and practices affecting media freedom and safety of journalists in Europe and identifies actions required to improve effective protection of journalists. With the participation of: Sarah Clarke, Head of the Europe and Central Asia team, Article 19 Nicola…

In January 2023, Swedish business and finance publication Realtid confirmed that they had reached a settlement with businessman Svante Kumlin over a legal action Kumlin had taken as a result of articles published in late 2020. Under the terms of the settlement, while Kumlin will pay part of Realtid’s legal fees, Realtid is obliged to share a clarification and apology on its website on three of its articles about Kumlin and his company Eco Energy World (EEW). The settlement comes more than two years after the legal action against Realtid and their journalists was initiated, and seven months after a…

More than a hundred works councils, union sections and RLTs, convened by the Spanish journalists’ unions CCOO, UGT and FeSP, will take to the streets on 1 March 2023 to demand decent wages and working conditions. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) expresses its support for the Spanish journalists’ unions and the striking journalists.   For the first time, the works councils of Vocento, Unidad Editorial, Prisa and Promecal have joined forces to demand that the management of the daily press sector meet to negotiate pay rises for all staff of their newspapers, magazines and all the companies involved. This…

In the week of the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Dainius Radzevičius, President of the Lithuanian Journalists’ Union (LŽS), shares the work done in collaboration with Sergiy Tomilenko, President of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU), and a unique initiative: the magazine “We are from Ukraine!”. The publication has been put together by journalists, publishers, translators and media organisations from both countries, and the first edition was published in 80,000 copies. The teams behind the collaborative project are from Vilnius, Klaipeda and various cities in Ukraine. “The main idea was cooperation,” said…

A Polish court extended Pablo González’s pre-trial detention for the fourth time on 15 February 2023, meaning he will spend up to a further three months in prison. The Spanish freelance journalist was arrested on 28 February 2022, accused of being “an agent of Russian intelligence”, while covering the humanitarian crisis on the Polish-Ukrainian border. The International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) and their Spanish affiliates call on the authorities to release González without further delay, and ensure he will receive a fair trial. “The case is still in the Prosecutor’s Office. This is an investigation, and it is…

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the world’s largest organisation of journalists, has launched a solidarity call to support journalists in Turkey and Syria, following the devastating earthquake that took place on 6 February and affected many media professionals and their families. Thousands of people were killed and many more were injured by a devastating earthquake that shook south-eastern Turkey near the Syrian border on 6 February. IFJ affiliates in both countries: DİSK Basın-İş Sendikası, Gazeteciler Cemiyeti Dernegi (GCD), Turkiye Gazetciler Cemiyeti (TGC), Turkiye Gazeteciler Sendikasi (TGS), Syrian Journalists Association, and the Syrian Journalists Union told the IFJ that many of…

Bosnian journalist Nikola Morača had his phone confiscated after he refused to reveal his sources during an interrogation by the Banja Luka Police Station, on 24 February 2023. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined its affiliate the Bosnia-Herzegovina Journalists’ Association (BHN) in condemning this appalling attack on the protection of sources. Nikola Morača, who works for the newspaper EuroBlic and the portal SrpskaInfo, had written about the rape of an eighteen years old in the city of Banja Luka. The police had been looking for Morača and interrogated him after he arrived accompanied by his lawyer at the station. In the…

Hanna Chernenko is a Kharkiv-based journalist and a member of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU). She comes from the Luhansk region in the Donbas, where the armed conflict against Russia began in 2014. For one year, she has been covering the war in her country for local media Visti Television News Service and Hromadske Radio and, from time to time, assists international media crews that report on the conflict. Hanna shares with the International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) how her journalistic work has changed throughout the last year, and reflects on the role of journalists…

Today, marking one year since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) partners reiterate our condemnation of Russia’s war of aggression. We continue to stand in solidarity with the journalists and media workers who cover the events at great risk to their safety and remember those who have died in the line of duty. The war’s deadly toll has cast a dark shadow over press freedom in Europe. Killing, kidnapping, torture and other attacks on journalists and media workers has no place in Ukraine, and those responsible must face justice for their…

We are writers, journalists, artists, human rights defenders, and those who stand in solidarity with them from around the world, including those who stay in Ukraine and made the difficult decision to leave our homes. On the one-year marking of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, we write to express our collective condemnation of Russia’s multi-pronged war against the Ukrainian people and culture. We grieve for the thousands of people killed as casualties of Russia’s campaign of violence. Russia’s war has sought to rupture Ukraine’s social fabric and culture, displacing millions of people in the destruction of cities and towns. We grieve for…

Today, one year after the Russian Federation launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Partner Organisations to the Safety of Journalists’ Platform remember the colleagues who lost their lives while covering the war, those who have endured injury, abduction, torture and suffering and express full support for all journalists who report truthfully about the war. According to alerts published on the Platform, to date, twelve journalists and media workers have been killed while covering the war, or in connection with their profession, and 23 others have been injured. The Partner Organisations condemn the threats to the lives and safety of journalists and media…

A draft law to require entities receiving money from abroad to register as “agents of foreign influence” was introduced by the People’s Power party to the Georgian Parliament on 20 February 2023. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined its affiliate, the Independent Association of Georgian Journalists (IAGJ), in criticising the proposed law and calling for its withdrawal. In the name of “transparency”, the draft law would require organisations receiving over 20% of their income from a ‘foreign power’ to register on a ‘Foreign Influence Agents Registry’, or face fines of up to ₾25,000 (8,900€). It would affect any broadcaster,…

Five years after the murder of Slovak investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancee Martina Kušnírová, EFJ President Maja Sever traveled to Bratislava on 20-21 February 2023 with a delegation of international media freedom organisations. They took an active part in the commemorative events, met with Jan’s and Martina’s relatives, Slovak journalists and state authorities. In this testimony, Maja Sever looks back on these two days with a moving personal account. On the kitchen table, investigators found cups of tea, coffee and an open laptop on which Martina Kušnirova was looking at wedding dresses. Her body was found on the kitchen…

In July 2023, the European Commission will publish its annual rule of law report. The significant challenges to the rule of law within the Union in the past year are both old and new. While issues such as the non-implementation of court decisions, the shrinking of civic space in the EU and the restriction of freedom of expression across the EU have featured in previous joint civil society statements, the new coverage in country chapters and the rapidly changing geopolitical landscape have generated new horizontal concerns. Compliance with and respect for the rule of law in the EU are crucial…

Five years after the assassination of Já​​n Kuciak and Martina Kušnírová, Slovak judges are nearing their judgment in the retrial of the alleged mastermind of the murder of Aktuality.sk’s journalist and his fiancée. While the hitmen and an intermediary of the February 2018 killing have already been convicted to long prison sentences, suspect Marián Kočner, charged with ordering the crime, was acquitted. With the retrial verdict expected in April 2023, our organisations renew our call for full justice for the double murder. The undersigned organisations conducted a fact-finding and advocacy mission in the country to express their support to the…