The Safety of Journalists Toolbox presents national instruments and initiatives from across the OSCE region and makes them accessible to interested stakeholders. It is a practical instrument to showcase existing measures on the safety of journalists from across the entire OSCE region and thereby encourage further action. The Toolbox is the result of the work carried out in the framework of the OSCE RFoM project on the Safety of Journalists | OSCE and builds upon longstanding OSCE commitments. It provides an accessible and user-friendly set of tools to guide not only participating States, but also media outlets, journalists and civil…

The resource hub ‘Spotlight on Artificial Intelligence and Freedom of Expression’ is part of the #SAIFE project of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media and aims to provide information on how Artificial intelligence (AI) conditions our information environment. AI has a powerful role in shaping and arbitrating our information space – influencing what information and content we read, view, and share. This poses challenges and risks to freedom of expression and media pluralism, which can harm society, undermine democracy, and erode human rights.  The2022 Digital News Report by the Reuters Institute of Journalism at Oxford estimates that 77…

The article was originally published here. The concept of news deserts was initially developed by US scholars and policymakers to explain the crisis of traditional news media and the vanishing of local news outlets as a consequence of the digital transformation and the 2008 global economic crisis. In an attempt to provide a definition for this concept, some authors have focused on digital accessibility by measuring the availability of broadband and wireless technology in local communities. A second group have focused on linguistic and cultural barriers that leave ethnic communities marginalized and disenfranchised, whereas a third group have concentrated on the quality…

SLAPP: Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation. SLAPPs are a form of legal harassment used to intimidate and silence those speaking out in the public interest. They are often used as a tool to suppress information that the plaintiffs don’t want to be brought to light. The plaintiffs are attempting to keep information secret – information that the public has a right to know. Download the PDF:

The Middlesex University has recently published a set of Recommendation for supporting journalists’ well-being as part of the project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council “Journalists’ emotional labour in the era of social media”. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined in Spring 2022 a dozen of key stakeholders to exchange knowledge and discuss the ways in which journalists’ well-being could be supported to benefit their mental health and job satisfaction, as well as the quality of journalism. This work has led to the following five recommendations. “These recommendations, as agreed by the multi-stakeholder group, show that the…

The rise of online hate speech poses challenges both to media professionals and our democratic values. This training module, divided into 4 elements, is designed to help media professionals deal with ethical problems. Module 1: Practices on migrants and refugees Module 2: Inclusion through media Module 3: Media Against ‘Hate Speech’ Module 4: How to counter hate speech and manage an online community These publications were produced as part of “Media Against Hate”, a Europewide campaign initiated by the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and a coalition of civil society organisations.

The Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe (CASE) has launched a new report entitled “Shutting out criticism: How SLAPPs threaten European democracy”   based on data collected about 570 abusive lawsuits in 29 countries over the last 10 years. The first-ever comprehensive study aims to identify the scale, nature, and impact of SLAPPs in Europe. Initiated by wealthy and powerful litigants, Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP) is an abusive legal system attempting to intimidate and silence public watchdogs through lengthy and expensive litigation that drains a target’s resources and chills critical voices. This form of legal harassment is one of the…

On 23 November 2021, the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation) Europe Office of the Representative on Freedom of the Media (RfoM) launched a report titled “Legal Harassment and abuse of the judicial system against the media”. The report’s aim is to underline the risks associated with the journalistic profession, and discusses the effects of legal procedures, underlining the problematic nature of the abuse of the judicial system against media workers. It shares examples of cases where the law was being misused to prevent media workers, including journalists, from doing their work or as “a means of retaliation for their…

On 11 November 2021, the Reuters Institute published its November Institute Report. A panel of experts discussed the findings of a non-exhaustive study on hybrid working and the implications of this new model. The report, titled ‘Changing newsroom 2021: Hybrid Working and Improving Diversity Remain Twin Challenges for Publishers’, was written by Federica Cherubini, Nic Newman, and Rasmus Kleis Nielsen. It was published by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford. The report supports previousfindings of an EFJ report by Marc Gruberwhich noted that the future is hybrid, although working from home policies implemented…

On the occasion of the World Decent Work Day on 7 October, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has launched a report “Journalists working from home? a labour rights perspective for a hybrid future“ authored by Marc Gruber, showing the impact of the pandemic on the working conditions of journalists and the trend of the hybrid working model is becoming the norm. The report shows that while the working from home policies implemented by media companies are far from perfect, most journalists would still want to work from home but in a hybrid working model which allows them to work…

Recent years have seen worrying political developments across both old and new democracies, ranging from the rise of populist leaders and dwindling support for democratic rule to the growing polarization of public opinion. The phenomenon has been studied by The Illiberal Turn project, in which the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) is involved. The project launched a report called “Rebuilding trust and countering polarization in (post)pandemic times (Recommendations for media policies and journalistic practices from the Illiberal Turn project.)” The report was funded by the British  Economic and Social Research Council and presented during the EFJ Annual Meeting in Zagreb…

UNESCO just published an open-access handbook for journalism educators, media organisations and associations on how to report on migrants and refugees. This timely publication was researched and edited by the Erich Brost Institute for International Journalism at the TU Dortmund University in Germany. The volume can be used as a self-learning tool or as part of journalistic training. Journalists learn how knowledge and awareness of accurate facts, reliable sources and ethical reporting are key to cover migration and forced displacement. The goal is to improve the coverage of migration and create a more balanced and informed public debate across countries…

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…