(Dublin, 3rd June, 2016) The conference discussed the current state of journalism in Ireland and Europe and was hosted by MEP Nessa Childers from Ireland. Renate Schroeder outlined the threats on the independent status of journalists in Europe expressing great concern about the precarisation in the media as well the increasing attacks from both political and economic forces. Losing trust in journalism with journalists who no longer have time to check information or self-censor because of fear to lose the work or be attacked is the main challenge today, she told  about 100 participants in Dublin. NUJ Ireland General Secretary…

The Institute of European Media Law (EMR), consortium partner of the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), has recently conducted a study on the state of media freedom and investigative journalism in Europe. The results published on 17 May 2016 show that restrictive rules for the development of press freedom remain a major obstacle in all countries. 1. Decriminalisation of journalism = Hungarian model Journalists might infringe the law while trying to obtain information. According to the report, all legal frameworks know limits to the freedom of obtaining information. Even though in many states courts take into consideration the importance of press freedom…

On March 24, 2016 at 5:00 pm, a press conference in support for “freedom of information and freedom for journalists” in Turkey  will be held in the district of Cağaloğlu in Istanbul, where representative of national and international professional media organisations will gather together. The conference is the result of a joint ongoing campaign launched by the Journalists Association of Turkey (TGC), the Journalists’ Union of Turkey (TGS), the Progressive Journalists Association (CGD), DISK-Basin Is trade union, Haber Sen trade union and the Turkish national press institute to set imprisoned journalists free. International media organisations. including EFJ, IFJ, IPI, EJN,…

WARSAW, Feb 1, 2015 – The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) and the International Press Institute (IPI) completed a two-day fact-finding mission to Poland by calling on Polish journalists to stand together in defence of principles of press and media freedom. The group’s call came after the newly elected Polish government rushed through controversial changes to the country’s public service broadcaster that have deeply divided the journalistic community. The changes, in the form of an amendment to the Media Law, allow the Minister of State Treasury to directly appoint and dismiss…

Developed by Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso (OBC) and the European Center for Press and Media Freedom Centre (ECPMF), the Media Freedom Resource Centre is a free and ever-growing online repository that gathers, selects, and categorise relevant content on media freedom and pluralism in Europe. In addition to ensuring systematic access to relevant and up-to-date publications, the Resource Centre includes also sections devoted respectively to legal instruments for the protection of media freedom in Europe, support centres for journalists under threat, training opportunities as well as multimedia and awareness campaigns on freedom of the press throughout Europe. You can browse all the…

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…

The General secretary of the European Federation of Journalists, Ricardo Gutiérrez, has been quoted today in Politico as stating: “It’s been an awful year. I must say, five years ago I was not suspecting such a bad evolution.” The title of the article is very clear: “2015, an awful year for Europe’s free media – A year of arrests, assaults, legal restrictions and murder”. “It was a terrible year for journalists in Europe,” writes Alex Spence, the author of the article. “Attacks by Islamic militants, unjustified arrests, assaults, harassment, threats and tougher legal restrictions made it harder for editors, reporters and photographers…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), in partnership with Index on Censorship and Reporters Without Borders, has today (22/07/2015) published a new call for a crowd-sourced approach to map all violations, threats and limitations to media freedom in Europe. The online newsletter available on bit.ly/mappingmediafreedom1 is explaining step by step how to easily report the violations and use the mapping tool for advocacy. Correction for submission link (31/07/2015): https://mappingmediafreedom.org/reports/submit

Representative from 20 journalists’ organisations, publishing houses, academic institutions, trade unions and media experts from many European countries have launched the European Center for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) in Leipzig, Germany. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) is among the founding members of the ECPMF. Mogens Blicher Bjerregård (EFJ President) and Liljana Smaijlovic (UNS President, Serbian Journalists’ Union) have been elected to the 8-member Executive Board,  Naser Selmani (President of the Journalists’ Association  of Macedonia) was elected into the Supervisory Board. The ECPMF is an independent non-profit European Co-operative Society (SCE). Its missions are to unite Europe’s highly fragmented media…

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) and Index on Censorship are delighted to announce that Index project to map media freedom in Europe has received funding from the European Commission – one of just two projects selected. Mapping Media Freedom (#ecpmf)– launched as a pilot project in 2014 by Index on Censorship – records threats to media freedom throughout the European Union and EU candidate countries. In the last 12 months, more than 750 violations have been reported, including threats of violence, harassment, intimidation and legal penalties. The map includes threats faced by journalists and media groups at local as well…