EFJ President Maja Sever reflects on the attack on her on 1 August in the bay of the island of Tijat in Croatia. The story is quite simple. The inhabitants of the village where I spent my summer holidays, on a small island on the Adriatic coast of Croatia, are revolted by what they describe as the devastation, usurpation and illegal use of the bay of a neighbouring islet. They are fighting to preserve the site through legal means, but the atmosphere has been tense and unpleasant for several years. Only recently has the story made its way to the…

Gleb Golovchenko runs the Ukrainian television company TAK TV, in the Black Sea city of Mykolaiv. In February, Russian forces attempted to invade the city. Despite heavy bombardment, the attack was repulsed. The front line today is scarcely ten kilometres away, but Golovchenko has continued to broadcast – something that has only been possible, he says, because of help from the International Federation of Journalists and the European Federation of Journalists (IFJ/EFJ). “The bulletproof vest I was given has saved my life,” he says. “We see missiles and shooting every day, so all our reporters need extra protection. I have…

The newly elected Steering Committee of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) was keen to organise an online meeting with the leaders and members of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU). The two organisations discussed the programme of support for Ukrainian journalists and its future developments. The EFJ will focus its efforts on ensuring that assistance to Ukrainian journalists has long-term sustainable results. This is one of the main conclusions of the online meeting organised by NUJU, with the participation of Maja Sever, EFJ President, Ricardo Gutiérrez, EFJ General Secretary, Sergiy Tomilenko, NUJU President, Lina Kushch, First Secretary…

German public broadcaster RBB has been rocked by a scandal surrounding its former director, Patricia Schlesinger, who is accused of embezzlement and misuse of her position as head of the Berlin-based media group. On Sunday, Schlesinger stepped down after accusations that included a questionable use of funds, including controversial allocation of consultancy contracts. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) called on the German judicial authorities to carry out a proper investigation into the suspicions of corruption. The allegations go back a number of weeks to when the German news portal Business Insider wrote about “inconsistencies” in the business dealings of…

Russian journalist Marina Ovsiannikova was officially charged with “spreading false information” about the army on Wednesday 10 August. She was arrested today and will spend the night in pre-trial detention in Moscow. She faces “up to ten years in prison” under a new article of the Russian Criminal Code, introduced after the start of the war in Ukraine. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) condemned the judicial harassment of the journalist and demanded her immediate release. Marina Ovsiannikova is famous for interrupting a Russian state TV news programme and has already received two administrative fines for her anti-war stance in…

In Belarus, since the fraudulent presidential election of 9 August 2020, journalists have faced hundreds of arrests and detentions. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins its Belarusian affiliate, the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ), in condemning the indiscriminate repression by the regime of dictator Alexander Lukashenko. The EFJ and BAJ demand the immediate release of the 30 journalists and media workers currently imprisoned in Belarus. 9 August 2022 is the second anniversary of the most recent presidential election in the Republic of Belarus. Two years ago, instead of recognizing the democratic choice, the authorities overturned it through the use…

We, the undersigned free expression, press freedom, and journalists’ organisations, express support for The Shift News as it faces an all-out legal battle against 40 freedom of information (FOI) lawsuits brought by 40 government entities in Malta. These appeal lawsuits pose a serious threat to the country’s already worrying freedom of information and press freedom climate. We call for these cases to be immediately dropped and for the government of Malta to fully comply with its FOI obligations going forward. In July 2021, Malta’s Data Protection Commissioner ruled in favour of 40 FOI requests filed by independent media outlet The…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) condemns the legal actions aimed at muzzling and intimidating the press in the context of the scandal of illegal government practices in Greece, in particular the tapping of journalists and politicians. The EFJ condemns the abusive legal proceedings launched on Friday 5 August by Grigoris Dimitriadis, resigning adviser and nephew of Greek Prime Minister Kyriákos Mitsotákis, against journalists Thanasis Koukakis, Nikolas Leontopoulos and Thodoris Chondrogiannos, as well as against the website Reporters United and the newspaper EfSyn. “We demand the immediate withdrawal of these complaints, which are only intended to intimidate the press and…

Freelance rates in Belgium have been stagnating for three years, according to a survey conducted in May and June 2022 by the Belgian Association of Professional Journalists (AJP). In a context of rising inflation (8% expected), the gap between employed journalists, who benefit from annual salary indexation, and freelancers is widening. The journalists’ organisation will make the remuneration of freelancers a priority from September. Journalism is one of the few sectors where the clients – the media – set the rates. The different calculation practices (billing per sign, per word, per line, per article, per day) make it difficult, to…

After a series of British journalists, Russia has banned, on Monday morning, the Danish public television correspondent in Moscow, Matilde Kimer. The European and International Federations of Journalists (EFJ-IFJ) call for the reversal of these decisions. On the morning of 1 August, on arrival at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport, Matilde Kimer had passed through passport control but was arrested after collecting her luggage. At an airport office, she was handed a document stating that she was denied entry to the Russian Federation “for security and defence reasons” and should therefore be deported immediately. After a five-hour wait at the airport in Moscow,…

This morning, August 3, 2022, the Tagansky District Court of Moscow found the Journalists and Media Workers’ Union (JMWU), an EFJ affiliate in Russia, guilty of allegedly “discrediting the Russian armed forces” (Code of administrative offenses of the Russian Federation). JMWU was ordered to pay the maximum fine of 500,000 rubles (8,000 euros). The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) denounces this illegitimate trial, which only aims to facilitate the dissolution of the union, during a hearing scheduled for September 14. According to the indictment, JMWU was held responsible for the “spreading of ideas related to a negative attitude towards the…

On 3 August, the regional court in Homel, Belarus, sentenced journalist Iryna Slaunikava to 5 years in prison in a closed trial. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins its affiliate the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) in calling for the annulment of this arbitrary and illegal court decision. The journalist, who is vice-president of BAJ, was found guilty of organising collective actions seriously undermining public order and creating or leading an extremist group. The latter refers to the Belsat TV channel, which the Belarusian dictatorship considers an extremist organisation. The proceedings lasted almost one and a half months. Judge…

Latvijas Radio vēstīja, Latvia’s public radio station, reported on Monday that Latvia’s intelligence services, Valsts drošības dienesta (VDD) had informed the country’s senior officials about the risks of the increasing activity of Russian journalists and Russian media companies setting up in Latvia. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the Russian Journalists and Media Workers’ Union (JMWU) call on the authorities in all European countries not to indiscriminately stigmatise Russian journalists in exile. According to the radio station’s information, since Russia started the war, more than 200 journalists and 23 Russian media outlets have left Russia to settle in Latvia.…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) condemns the police brutality against several journalists in Athens, Greece, on 28 July, during the demonstration in solidarity with jailed anarchist Yiannis Michailidis. The EFJ calls on the Greek judicial authorities to condemn the perpetrators of such violence. Officers of the primary riot police unit of the Hellenic Police (MAT) physically attacked and teargassed several journalists and covering a protest in central Athens on 28 July. Among the victims identified were the journalists Eleftheria Komandou (Golden Dawn Watch), Lefteris Partsalis and Manos Fragioudakis (News 24/7). The Journalists’ Union of Athens Daily Newspapers (JUADN), an EFJ affiliate,…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined media freedom organisations in expressing concerns at the lack of implementation of the recommendations of the milestone Public Inquiry into the assassination of Malta’s leading investigative journalist, Daphne Caruana Galizia. On the first anniversary of the Public Inquiry report’s publication, we urge the Maltese authorities to comply with their international human rights obligations and implement the recommendations without further delay to ensure effective protection of journalists going forward. Today marks the one-year anniversary of the publication of the landmark Public Inquiry report into the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia, which was found to…

New measures to prevent legislation used to intimidate journalists and threaten press freedom have been announced in the United Kingdom. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined its affiliate the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) in welcoming a package of proposals from UK government clamping down on powerful individuals, who attempt to use strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs), to intimidate journalists and influence reporting. Under the announced reforms, a new three-part test will be used in an early dismissal process to determine whether a SLAPP case can be struck out. The test will include an assessment of whether a case…