The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has joined a group of civil society organisations – Corporate Europe Observatory – across Europe opposing the hasty push by the European Commission for a new European Union (EU) Directive on Trade Secrets. Mogens Blicher Bjerregård, the EFJ President said, “The draft directive poses some serious threats to the work of journalists and trade union representatives.” The European Commission draft does not provide a clear exemption for journalists and whistleblowers who publish or reveal information that is in the public interests. Journalists and whistleblowers must show that “…the alleged acquisition, use or disclosure of…

Following months of preparation and the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding on 4 December 2014 with the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and other media partners, the Council of Europe (CoE) has officially launched today an online platform to promote the protection of journalism and safety of journalists. The platform aims to improve the protection of journalists, better address threats and violence against media professionals and foster early warning mechanisms and response capacity within the Council of Europe. Whenever there is a physical attack on journalists or legal threat to media freedom, such violations…

Update Following our report (below) this morning at 11.24am, it is annouced at 3.30pm today that the ATR TV is shutting down because the Russian telecommunications regulator refused to grant a licence to the TV station. #Crimean Tatar TV channel goes silent http://t.co/Y1WY4y52QB pic.twitter.com/uNcV2Qs03H — Kyiv Post (@KyivPost) April 1, 2015 The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has today condemned the threat of closure facing the Simferopol-based ATR TV station in Crimea.  The operation of ATR and other broadcasters (including children’s entertainment Lale and Meydan FM station) would become illegal imminently if the Russian telecommunications regulator (Roskomnadzor) refuses to grant…

In a conference organised by the European Parliament on “Monitoring media freedom and pluralism in Europe”, Members of the European Parliaments (MEPs) called for actions to be taken by member states and European institutions to guarantee media freedom and pluralism. The conference hosted by MEP Silvia Costa (Chair of Culture and Education Committee) and MEP Claude Moraes (Chairs of Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee) debated with stakeholders, including representative of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), Renate Schroeder. In particular, MEPs have highlighted the Media Pluralism Monitoring tool as a way to trigger further action among member states…

Journalists and media workers at Radio France have been on strike since Thursday 19 March called by the unions (CGT, CFDT, FO, Solidaires and Unsa) to oppose the budget cuts. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and its Broadcasting Expert Group in its meeting on 26 March has expressed their support to the journalists in Radio France to defend public service broadcasting and their fight to maintain quality journalism and decent working conditions. “The management of Radio France announced a budget deficit of 20 million Euros. The employees are protesting against the potential cut of 300 jobs and the plan for…

In a meeting with delegates of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) on Friday 20 March 2015, the EU Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Mr. Johannes Hahn, has called for more progress made on press freedom in the West Balkans and Turkey. Commissioner Hahn expressed his concerns about media freedom in West Balkans and Turkey and pointed out that it was not satisfactory to see these countries receiving the same critical comments every year. He confirmed that the Commission considers media freedom as a fundamental right and as a key element in the transformation of countries into democratic…

Board members of the Journalists Union of Turkey (TGS), together with the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), organised this weekend (21-22 March 2015) in Istanbul the union’s third Strategic & Development workshop in a year. This was an opportunity for the new board (elected at the TGS Congress in December 2013) to evaluate their recruitment and development strategies, identify new areas of potential growth, reassess all ongoing projects with partners and take the necessary steps to move forward. Although Turkey’s Constitution affirms the right of workers to form labour unions “without obtaining permission”, “to possess…

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its regional organisation, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), today accused the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) in Crimea of harassment and intimidation against independent media after journalist Natalya Kokorina (pictured on the left) was detained last Friday for six hours and denied access to legal assistance while her colleague Anna Andrievska (pictured on the right) is facing anti-state charges in relation to an article she wrote in 2014. The two journalists have worked at the news portal of the Crimean Centre for Investigative Journalism, in charge of providing journalistic training. After the…

The European Federation of Journalists has sent a letter to the Minister of Information of Belarus demanding to abolish the provision in a media law forbiding freelance journalists from practicing journalism in the country. According to the Mass Media Law in Belarus, freelance journalists are banned from reporting in the country. The law only recognises employed journalists working for major media organisations in Belarus. Foreign journalists who are working in Belarus on assignments can also get press accreditations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus. The EFJ proposed to the government to organise a round table discussion with all…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has learned today that a draft bill for the reopening of public broadcaster ERT was made available for public consultation on Monday (09/03/2015) and is expected to be submitted in a consultation committee of the Greek Parliament in the coming days. The bill calls for the re-enforcement of the work agreements that were valid up until June 11, 2013, the day when the public broadcaster was shut down, meaning that all those who were made redundant then and would still like their job back will be rehired on the time related terms of the…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has learned today that a draft bill for the reopening of public broadcaster ERT was made available for public consultation on Monday (09/03/2015) and is expected to be submitted in a consultation committee of the Greek Parliament in the coming days. The bill calls for the re-enforcement of the work agreements that were valid up until June 11, 2013, the day when the public broadcaster was shut down, meaning that all those who were made redundant then and would still like their job back will be rehired on the time related terms of the…

Who owns the media? Whose interest do they serve? The answers to these questions are difficult reach. To improve media ownership transparency, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has endorsed a campaign launched by Access Info Europe for transparent and easy access to information about media ownership. According to Access Info Europe, a non-governmental organisation promoting access to information, only 9 European countries can the public find out who the actual owners of the broadcast media are from reporting to media regulators or to company registers. This is because disclosure to media regulators of beneficial (ultimate) owners of media outlets…

The Freelance Expert Group (FREG) of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) agreed at its latest meeting in Brussels (26/02/2015) to reinforce its campaign to improve the social and professional status of freelance journalists in Europe. The EFJ experts reached an agreement on two major issues: All freelance journalists are journalists and have the right to be member of a trade union or professional association. They have the right to be represented and defended by the organization of their choice. This may seem to be an obvious fact but in several European countries – such as EU member states Greece and…

On Saturday (28/02/2015), the Association des journalistes professionnels (AJP, representing the journalists in the French and German speaking part of Belgium) and the Vlaamse vereniging van journalisten (VVJ, representing the journalists in the Dutch speaking part of Belgium), both EFJ affiliates under the federal umbrella organization called AGJPB-AVBB, held their annual congress at the House of Journalists in Brussels. Unlike many other countries in Europe, AJP and VVJ are not classical trade union organisations but they are registered as non-profit professional unions. They are considered by the authorities and other civil society organisations as the legitimate representative of professional journalists and…

“Why do they leave journalism?” – This is the question asked to 38 former journalists by journalism student Hélène Brédart in a project initiated at the Université de Liège and reproduced by Jean-François Dumont of the Belgian Association of Professional Journalists (AJP, member of EFJ). The results of the project published in the latest edition of the monthly Journalistes by the AJP show that the deteriorating working conditions and practices in journalism make are major reason why journalists left the profession. The most frequently mentioned reasons for journalists to leave their job are: • Increasing workload: The digital development and restructuring measures are putting…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has attended at the Brussels Press Club,  the launch of a new book Mapping Foreign Correspondence in Europe showing that London is the world capital of foreign correspondents. The editor of the book Georgios Terzis has conducted a pan-european research for almost two years and gathered data about the 6.600 registered journalists working as correspondents in 27 countries (this first edition does not include information for Poland and Italy). According to the data disclosed, the country that has the highest number of foreign correspondents working there is the United Kingdom (1.700), following by France (945), Belgium…