Risks for media pluralism and safety of journalists are increasing across Europe

The Media Pluralism Monitor (MPM) has examined 28 European Union Member States as well as three candidate countries: Turkey, Serbia and Macedonia. The results of this second EU-wide implementation of the MPM show either general stagnation or deterioration in all of the major areas encompassed by the MPM and confirm that no country analysed is free from risks to media pluralism. The Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom (CMPF), based in Florence, has just published its 2017 Media Pluralism Monitor reports (#MPM2017). Year 2017 was marked by events that have had a significant impact on media freedom and media…

Italy: Deputy Prime Minister Di Maio insulted journalists

On November 10 2018, in occasion of the acquittal of Virginia Raggi, the mayor of Rome who was charged with forgery in relation to the appointment of Renato Marra as head of the Tourism Department, the Italian Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio and the Five Stars Movement MP Alessandro Di Battista attacked again Italian journalists. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins its Italian affiliate, Federazione Nazionale della Stampa Italiana (FNSI), in organising a protest action  on November 13 to speak out against these systematic attacks against the press in Italy with the hashtag #GiùLeManiDallInformazione (Hands off the information).…

Global coalition backs campaign for UN action on impunity

Journalists groups, editors, media owners and press freedom campaigners are joining forces today, 2 November, to demand urgent action by the United Nations to tackle impunity for crimes against journalists. With figures showing the number of killings of journalists rising in comparison to the same period last year and impunity in 9 out of 10 cases, the unprecedented coalition of professional journalists’ organisations is calling on UN member states to back media industry demands for a convention on the protection of journalists. Representatives of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the World Association of Newspapers (WAN-IFRA), the European Broadcasting Union…

Journalist Victoria Marinova brutally murdered in Bulgaria

The European and International Federations of Journalists (EFJ-IFJ) are deeply shocked by the brutal murder of Victoria Marinova, a 30-year-old Bulgarian journalist working for regional TV channel TVN. She is the fourth journalist killed in the EU since 2017 after Kim Wall in Denmark, Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta and Jan Kuciak in Slovakia. A vigil in Marinova’s honour will be organised in the capital, Sofia, on Monday evening. Victoria Marinova has been brutally killed on Saturday, around noon, in the city of Ruse, located in the north of the country. According to local media reports, her body was found in an area…

Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists: From a Chilling to an Enabling Environment

Conference organised by the Institute for Information Law (IViR) of the University of Amsterdam (UVA), in the framework of the “Audit of freedom of expression in the Netherlands”. This conference will be the closing event of the project, Audit of freedom of expression in the Netherlands. The project and conference centrally concern the need to ensure the effective implementation of Recommendation CM/Rec(2016)4 of the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers to member States on the protection of journalism and safety of journalists and other media actors, with a particular focus on the Netherlands. A main aim of the project and conference is…

Spain: Photojournalist Jordi Borrás attacked in Barcelona

The European and International Federation of Journalists (EFJ/IFJ) joined their Spanish affiliates in condemning the physical attack against photojournalist Jordi Borrás on 16 July after his coverage of a political event in Barcelona. Both Federations demand an immediate investigation on the attack and hold the aggressor accountable. According to the Federación de Sindicatos de Periodistas (FeSP) statement, the photojournalist, working for the newspaper El Món, was walking through Barcelona’s city center after a political event, when a man recognised him and approached him shouting “viva Franco” and “viva España”. Then, the man assaulted the photojournalist and punched him in the face. Borrás…

Italy: Several journalists facing threats related to their stories

The European and International Federations of Journalists (EFJ/IFJ) have raised their concerns over the repetitive attacks and acts of intimidation against journalists in Italy in the last few weeks. They stand in solidarity with their Italian affiliate, the Federazione Nazionale Della Stampa Italiana (FNSI), and the Italian journalists who are experiencing those threats. On 12th of July investigative journalist Marilù Mastrogiovanni of Apulian newspaper Il Tacco was targeted with death threats flooding her work email. Il Tacco reported that this was not the journalist’s first case of intimidation, and that the level of protection for her and her family had been increased. The local authorities are investigating the…

Belarus: Freelance journalist Dzmitry Halko sentenced to four years in low-security prison colony

UPDATE 10.10.2018 Dzmitry Halko, the freelance journalist on trial after allegedly assaulting a police officer in November 2017, was sentenced to four years in a low-security prison colony and will have to pay a compensation of 850 Belarusian rubles to the victims, reports the Belarus Association of Journalists (BAJ). In July Halko appealed the decision and was released from pre-trial detention. However, yesterday the Minsk City Court ruled to send the journalist to a labor camp, upholding the 4-year prison sentence imposed on him this summer. The EFJ supports BAJ in strongly condemning the decision of Belarusian legislative authorities against the journalist Dzmitry Halko. ——————————————– Freelance journalist Dzmitry Halko…

Meeting of the CoE Steering Committee on Media and Information Society (CDMSI)

The EFJ GS Ricardo Gutiérrez will attend next meeting of the CDMSI (the EFJ is an observer member of the CDMSI). The CDMSI will consider the Draft Strategy for the Implementation of the CM Recommendation on protection of journalism and safety of journalists and other media actors, prepared by the secretariat. Discuss and approve it. Consider and comment on the Draft Implementation Guide to Recommendation CM/Rec(2016)4, prepared by the Secretariat Valuable practices in the area of safety of journalists will be presented, including: the Action plan on Defending Free Speech, by the CDMSI representative of Sweden, and the Audit of Freedom…