Demonising the media: Threats to journalists in Europe

Burned in effigy. Insulted. Menaced. Spat at. Discredited by their nation’s leaders. Assaulted. Sued. Homes strafed with automatic weapons. Rape threats. Death threats. Assassinations. This is the landscape faced by journalists throughout Europe over the past four years. Mapping Media Freedom, managed by Index on Censorship with the support of the EFJ, has documented media freedom incidents across Europe — over 3,000 were surveyed for this report — since May 2014. The information gathered shows journalists and media outlets targeted in a kaleidoscopic array by political leaders, businesses and the general public – but some key trends have emerged from…

Serbian authorities must investigate the murder of Luka Popov

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) today condemned the murder of radio journalist Luka Popov in Srpski Krstur, Serbia. The Journalists’ Association of Serbia (UNS) and the Independent Journalists Association of Serbia (NUNS), two EFJ affiliates, and the Journalists Association of Vojvodina (DNV) have urged the police to carry out a swift investigation of this murder. Luka Popov, 60 years old, journalist for local radio stations in Čoka and Novi Kneževac, was killed on 16 June in his home in Srpski Krstur. He was found dead by his brother, this morning. The EFJ joined the alert about this tragic event published on Mapping…

Turkey must stop feeding its environment of fear for journalists and trade unionists

Update (25th May): Our Turkish colleague Erol Önderoglu is also under criminal investigation for “terrorist propaganda” for participating in a solidarity campaign with the Kurdish daily newspaper Özgür Gündem. The EFJ and IFJ demand that all criminal charges be dropped against journalists involved in this campaign. The European and International Federations of Journalists (EFJ and IFJ) is calling upon the presumptive upcoming Turkish Prime minister, Binali Yildirim, to end the climate of permanent judicial intimidation, threats, harassment, detention and physical assaults against journalists and media workers in Turkey. The EFJ is particularly underlining the fact that Turkish judicial authorities have recently opened an…