The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) is extremely concerned by the increasing numbers of fines imposed on Belarusian freelance journalists for “illegal creation of mass media production” since April 2014. On June 1, the judge of the Dziarzhynsk district court Ina Shayko ruled against journalists Volha Chaychyts and Siarhei Krauchuk and demanded them to pay 310 EUR each (5 million 400 thousand rubles) for illegal production of mass media products. On June 3, the Lenin district court of Brest also fined journalist Alina Litvinchuk for double violations of Article 22.9 (illegal production and distribution of mass media products); the fine…

A workshop on atypical workers organised by the International Federation of Actors (FIA) in cooperation with the Dutch actors’ union (FNV KIEM) within the joint project with the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), International Federation of Musicians (FIM) and UNI-MEI took place in Amsterdam on 20 May. The participants, union leaders from the creative and media sector, discussed the impact of the changing landscape for workers and the impact on their working conditions and union services across the European Union. Yvonne Dankfurt from the EFJ affiliate in the Netherlands(Nederlandse Vereniging van Journalisten – NVJ), outlined the programmes offered by NVJ…

Join us for a webinar on April 21, 2015 at 12:00 AM CEST. Register now:! https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1619804193653421057 The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and its Freelance Expert Group (FREG) in cooperation with the Deutscher Journalisten-Verband (DJV) are organising another webinar, this time on social security for freelance journalists in Europe, a theme ever more important in times of increasing flexibility and decreasing social security. Ivan Declercq, freelance advisor of the Flemish journalist association (VVJ) will give some examples from European countries including Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Norway. The special system in Germany of the so-called Künstlersozialkasse (KSK) (artists’ social insurance)…

How to improve the situation of freelance journalists? “To build a permanent structure”, was the answer of the Association of Professional Journalists of French-speaking Belgium (AJP/AGJPB) On 20 March, the Belgian Association of Journalistes (Francophone group AJP) launched a new platform offering a series of services to freelances, in order to better commercialize their products. It includes a calculator to define how much should be paid by line (page), news on the profession, training, conferences, events etc., a freelances’ repertoire listing freelance journalists with their expertise,  an agenda and a platform of exchange. For further information about the new platform,…

On 31st March, EFJ Director Renate Schroeder together with Freelance Expert Group member Michael Hirschler from the German affiliate DJV met with Member of the European Parliament Jutta Steinruck for a very engaged one hour discussion. Steinruck is member of the Committee for Employment and Social Affairs  and trade union co-ordinator of the S&D Group. Main theme of the talk were the urgent problems journalists’ and other unions face throughout Europe: There are grave loopholes when it comes to social security for freelances; no real negotiation mandates for unions on behalf of freelances, in some Member States freelances cannot  become…

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 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…

“In Macedonia, only 1 % of journalists consider their jobs to be absolutely secure while 77 % believe that they are under constant risk of being fired. Raising the issue and the consequences of the insecure or precarious work in the media industry is more than necessary”, shows a new survey published today (24/11/2014) in Skopje by the SSNM (Independent Union of Journalists and Media Workers, an EFJ affiliate). The study based on 104 in-depth interviews with local journalists has been presented by SSNM President Tamara Chausidis during a conference on “Precarious Work in the Media Industry” attended by SSNM…

If you missed the Webinar on Entrepreneurial Journalism, you can catch up the key points and tips provided by our guest speakers, Heike Rost, freelance photojournalists and Tim Dawson, entrepreneurial journalist. German freelance photojournalist, Heike Rost, spoke about her experience in “selling” her journalistic work and share some useful tips on how to build an audience. How to build an audience? 10 Tips from Heike Rost, a photojournalist in Germany. Before building an audience, you need to build yourself an image that is attractive for the audience. It is not just a professional image but also a personal one (‘integer’…