The final report on “Building independent media to counter political interference”, authored by Marc Gruber, was published by the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and funded by the Open Society Foundations (OSF). The report provides an overview of different threats to independent media in Europe and shares good practices and recommendations for an advocacy action plan. Below, a summary of the main points. Serving as the basis for this report are data collected through questionnaires circulated to EFJ affiliates, telephone interviews and EFJ activities, such as a series of webinars on the same topic. The participating countries, which are representative…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) held a six-week training course online for union workers on the topic of “Organising and recruiting in challenging times”, taking place from 12 January until 16 February 2021. The training sessions were guided by the ETUI trainers, Ulisses Garrido and Alina Mihaela Caia taking consideration the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic and the digital transformation in the media and union movement. Here are the course summary and a compilation of the online course materials, resources and learning outcomes. The course materials and exercises are organised in…

The European Commission published its second EU-wide report on the Rule of Law, with a Communication assessing the situation in the EU as well as in dedicated country chapters on each Member State. The report examines new developments since the first report last September and takes into account the impact of the pandemic. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) welcomes that the report tackles the deteriorating situation of journalists’ safety as well as obstacles such as lack of transparency or political interference and calls on the Member States to improve the conditions and legislation for media workers. The methodology behind…

Today, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) published a report examining initiatives that aim to promote sustainable innovative journalism, including those that explore new business models. This report, written by international media expert Marc Gruber follows and updates a previous report on digital journalism and new business models and a workshop held in 2018. Against the backdrop of a collapsing traditional business model for media, journalism has to constantly reinvent itself and be viable and financially sustainable. Structured in six sections, this report provides numerous examples and approaches that show common trends and ideas to reach this much-needed sustainability and innovation. The survey found that successful…

On 23 June 2021, the Reuters Digital News Report 2021 was published by the Reuters Institute for Journalism in cooperation with Oxford University. Apanel of experts discussed the findings for its launch. The most encouraging result of this extensive study is that the public’s trust levels have sharply risen during the Covid-19 pandemic. Now, major challenges are how to build on the trust gained and to further engage high audiences. In the panel discussion, it appeared that major questions defining the future of news consumption concern how media can hold and engage subscribers, especially regarding young audiences: “It’s important to…

The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ) published a new study on what trust means to news audiences based on focus groups and in-depth interviews in four countries: the UK, US, India and Brazil. The report found that there is a certain gap between what journalists versus what audiences associate with trust and that news media need to re-define and better communicate their brand identities. The report “Listening to what trust in news means to users: qualitative evidence from four countries” was published on 22 April as part of RISJ’s £3.3m Facebook-funded Trust In News project. It comes after…

The Turkish Association of Journalists (GCD) published today its Annual Media Monitoring Report documenting the state of press freedom in Turkey for the year 2020. The report addresses a number of topics such as the impact of the COVID-19, disinformation, the new internet regulation, the situation of imprisoned journalists and journalists currently on trial. According to the Media Monitoring Report, the pandemic of the century and legal developments throughout the year deepened the deadlock media in Turkey faces. The working conditions and freedom to report for journalists and media workers were already very difficult. According to the professional evaluation survey,…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) together with the four European trade union federations in the Media, Arts and Entertainment sector, namely: the International Federation of Actors (FIA); the International Federation of Musicians (FIM), UNI Europa – Media, Entertainment & Arts (EURO-MEI), has today launched a handbook on Trade Union Organising. The handbook is the outcome of a joint project, entitled “Reaching the Full Potential of Social Dialogue for Atypical Workers” that addressed the challenge of union representation of workers in the Media, Arts and Entertainment sector, who are freelance, self-employed or otherwise atypical workers. It contains good practices on…