Journalists, broadcasters and media freedom organisations have gathered this morning (13/01/2016) in front of the Polish Embassy in Brussels protesting against new attempt by the Polish government to control the media while the European Commission was discussing possible action against Poland. The EFJ has been heavily criticising the new law in the past weeks accusing Poland of violating European law on media freedom. It has written to the European Commission calling for prompt action against Poland. Today, the European Commission has discussed the first time at its college meeting the case of Poland and decided to launch action against Poland under…

Poland’s president Andrzej Duda has signed today a controversial state media law. Prior to the next weekly meeting by the college of Commissioners on 13 January, 2016 in which the European Commissioners will discuss both the developments of the Constitutional Court and the media law in Poland, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has sent the following letter to Commissioner Günther Oettinger. Commissioner Günther Oettinger, responsible for the digital economy and society, said on Sunday Poland should be put under the EU’s rule of law supervision, a three-step procedure consisting of a Commission assessment, a Commission recommendation and a follow-…

The undersigned press freedom and media organisations – European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), European Broadcasting Union (EBU), Association of European Journalists (AEJ), Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Index on Censorship – are outraged by the proposed bill, hastily introduced by the majority party in Poland yesterday (29 December) for immediate adoption, without any consultation, abolishing the existing safeguards for pluralism and independence of public service media governance in Poland. The introduction of a system whereby a government minister can appoint and dismiss at its own discretion the supervisory and management boards goes against basic principles and established…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has today expressed growing concerns over recent announcements by the newly elected government to introduce a new law on public media in the coming months with the aim to exert more control on public service broadcasting media and to “repolonise” print media. Following the newly elected conservative government (“Right and Justice” (PiS) in Poland in October, Prime Minister Beata Szydlo has given Culture Minister, Mr Piotr Glinski, the responsibility on media policy. In a recent interview given by Mr Glinski, who is also the Deputy Prime Minister, he announced that a new media law…

A debate on the revision of the Audio-Visual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) and the independence of media regulatory authorities will be hosted by the European Parliament by MEP Sabine Verheyen on 7 December. The aim of the meeting is to provide MEPs and other stakeholders with an overview of the key challenges to be addressed in the revision. The European Commission recently conducted a public consultation (closed 30 September 2015) and is currently preparing revisions to the Directive which will then be submitted to the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union. The meeting will include contributions from Lorena Boix Alonso, Head of Unit,…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has expressed concerns over the lack of independence of the Spanish public service broadcaster RTVE following a visit of the EFJ Broadcasting Expert Group (BREG) on Thursday, 28 October in Madrid, Spain. The group has met with representatives of the RTVE News Council (Consejo de informativos), an internal body formed by RTVE journalists “tasked with overseeing the broadcaster’s independence” and whose members are elected by their fellow journalists.   Members of the News Council at the RTVE explained their concerns over the quality and credibility of information and the need to develop measures to prevent…

Thousands of Greek journalists who are members of the EFJ affiliates in Greece are taking part in a 24-hour strike starting from 6 am today against a draft bill on broadcasting licences that will be voted by the Greek Parliament on Saturday, 24 October. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has backed journalists’ unions (JUADN, PFJU, ESPIT and ESIEMTH) in Greece by demanding the government to make changes to the draft bill’s provisions that are affecting the journalistic profession, labour relations and restrict access to information. The draft law stipulates that TV stations will be able to obtain a license…

One year after the Lamy report’s publication and shortly before the World Radiocommunications Conference 2015, senior representatives from broadcasting, network infrastructure, trade unions, viewer groups and media organisations met in Brussels to engage with EU Commissioner in charge of the Digital Single Market Mr Günther Oettinger and Member of the Parliament Mr Pascal Lamy on spectrum policy and the future of Europe’s audiovisual, creative and cultural sector.               Frequencies are at the heart of a future proof audiovisual, radio and live performance sector; with spectrum as a core driver for cultural diversity, creative jobs and growth in the Digital Single Market.…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has joined the Italian organisation on Carta di Roma welcoming the new initiative launched by the Italy newspaper La Stampa to counter hate speech. The EFJ has called on media professionals to be aware of the danger of discrimination being furthered by the media through hate speech following recent debates and media coverage on “migrant crisis” in Europe. Ricardo Gutiérrez, the EFJ General Secretary said, “Journalists should dare to denounce and confront hate speech publicly. They have the ethical responsibility to counter racist and discriminatory messages and comments that incite hatred, violence or insult…

The European Commission has launched a public consultation to assess current EU law on audiovisual media (Audiovisual Media Services Directive 2010/13/EU – AVMSD) to check if the current legislation is up-to-date for media in the digital era. According to the Commission’s communications, the consultation focuses on the following key topics: providing rules to shape technological developments creating a level playing field for emerging audiovisual media preserving cultural diversity protecting children and consumers safeguarding media pluralism combating racial and religious hatred guaranteeing the independence of national media regulators. During the review, stakeholders will be asked how effective the current law in…

Attending the Deutsche Welle’s Global Media Forum 2015 in Bonn (22/06/2015), the European Commissioner Günther Oettinger referred in his speech to “media freedom and pluralism” as a “crucial value for the EU”. To give examples of concrete steps, the Commissioner mentioned different EU projects involving the active participation of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ). “Whether a media outlet is so-called traditional or online, media practitioners will always have to be warranted the right to report facts and offer their views and opinions. Political pressure, economic hardship, physical attacks against journalists, restrictive legislation, and a general financial crisis in the sector all influence…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has welcomed the reopening of the Greek public service broadcaster, ERT on 11 June, the same date it was shut down two years ago in 2013 leaving 2600 people out of work. According to recent announcements made by the government, former ERT workers will be able to return to their jobs (except those who retired voluntarily at the time of the closure). It is estimated that around 1500 media workers will be rehired. However, it is not completely clear yet on what terms and conditions these workers will be hired. Marilena Katsimis, former General…

Today (29/04/2015), police forces in Bulgaria entered to the building of private television channel TV7 in order to impound the television’s property and get off the TV equipment preventing it from broadcasting. Bulgarian citizens were alerted by the increasing number of police forces out of the building. According to the EFJ affiliate in Bulgaria, SBJ or the Union of Bulgarian Journalists, TV staff and journalists are resisting and refused to allow the police to enter the TV headquarter without seeing any judicial order. They have also requested to talk with Kristina Dimitrova, the head of the Bulgarian police called Bailiff. According to the SBJ, this police action is a blatant violation of press…

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its regional organisation, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), have together backed a journalists’ strike in Kiev in early April after the TVi broadcaster ceased paying salaries to 300 employees. The Independent Media Trade Union of Ukraine (IMTUU), an affiliate of the IFJ and the EFJ, held the demonstration on 2 April in support of the journalists where it demanded the management to pay the media staff. According to TVi staff, the channel, which stopped broadcasting on 23rd March, recently changed ownership to David Zhvania’s and the new management ceased the salary payments.…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), together with organisations representing media workers and employers in the creative and cultural industry have called on European policy makers to ensure job growth, media diversity and quality content in the response to the European Commission’s consultation on spectrum policy. In a joint response to the consultation, the Wider Spectrum Group (WSG) in which the EFJ is a member of, told policy makers to develop a strong industry strategy that can sustain job growth, media pluralism and quality content. The group has called on the EU to follow the recommendations made by the Lamy…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has today welcomed the submission of a draft law to the Greek Parliament to allow the reopening of the Greek public broadcaster ERT and the hiring of over 1,500 former ERT workers. Among others, the draft law will allow the reopening of all channels TV (NET, ERT3, ERT1) and radio broadcasters, as well as the print magazine Radiotileorasi which is published by ERT. The draft contains provisions that guarantee the return of around 1,550 former ERT employees. The EFJ member (Journalists’ Union of Macedonia and Thrace Daily Newspapers) in Greece has welcomed the new developments…