Journalists unions from across the former Soviet Union and South East Europe gathered to debate the status of journalism, union organising and violations and safety of journalists rights across the region. The meeting was the third joint IFJ / EFJ meeting in the region to build greater collaboration and support for journalists unions across Europe. Discussions focused on labour rights, new forms of organising and recruitment, union campaigning, legal defense and new digital tools. The meeting started by recalling the many hundreds of journalists that have suffered violence and persecution for their work since the 2013 conference in Kiev and…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has called for authorities in Macedonia to drop all charges against the journalist Tomislav Kezarovski – who has now been held under house arrest for over a year. In 2013, Kezarovski was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison by a tribunal in Skopje for writing investigative articles for the magazine Reporter 92. He is currently under house arrest, unemployed and living in very difficult conditions. The EFJ has sent a letter to Andrej Lepavcov, the Ambassador of the Republic of Macedonia to the European Union, calling for Macedonian authorities to bring an end to all…

The Journalists’ Union of Finland has concluded a new collective agreement for around 4500 journalists and media workers in the print media and news agencies in the country. ‘‘I congratulate our affiliate on the successful negotiation of the new collective agreement under the challenging environment,’’ said Ricardo Gutierrez, EFJ General Secretary. The new agreement reached on 1 October will cover journalists working for online news website and media which was challenged by the employers. Although the union has made a small victory for the salary of journalists by achieving a moderate increase of 1.34% after 26 months, the union has…

20.10.2014 Labour rights protection of journalists, published at Alanalitika (in Bosnian) 8.10.2014 South East Europe Media Forum, published at Bianet (in Turkish)

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) have joined their affiliate, the National Union of Journalists, UK and Ireland (NUJ), to welcome a call by the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media for a re-opening of the investigation into the murder of Sunday World journalist Martin O’Hagan in September 2001. On Friday Dunja Mijatović called on the UK authorities to re-launch a criminal investigation into the murder which happened 13 years ago. “It is unacceptable that all this time has passed and not one person has been held responsible for what was a public execution,”…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), the Swiss professional association of journalists Impressum, Amnesty International, the University of Fribourg, Reporters Without Borders and Press Emblem Campaign (PEC) adopted a joint resolution at the end of the third Forum on the journalism this Sept. 24 in Lausanne. The resolution calls: Publishers to provide sufficient human and material resources to journalists to ensure the freedom of the press; Governments to ensure the protection of journalists‘ sources; The Swiss government to launch the necessary consultations with the international community to develop an international mechanism for the protection of journalists in conflict zones (including…

  table.mcnFollowContent {width:100% !important;} table.mcnShareContent {width:100% !important;}     Having trouble viewing this email? View this email in your browser Share Tweet Forward to Friend 28 July 2014 EDITORIAL Juncker’s Policies – What’s Missing?  The Luxembourger, Mr Jean-Claude Juncker, has finally taken the job as the European Commission chief. Mr Juncker’s appointment as the social conservative candidate marks a turning point since the last Commission led by the centre-right party leader Mr. José Manuel Barroso. The European Union seems to have rekindled its social model. Allied with the Socialists and Liberals, Mr. Junker has made many promises. He has declared his intention to…

  table.mcnFollowContent {width:100% !important;} table.mcnShareContent {width:100% !important;}     Having trouble viewing this email? View this email in your browser Share Tweet Forward to Friend 16 June 2014 EDITORIAL Putting Media Pluralism on EU agenda Over 200 candidates for the European Elections have endorsed our Manifesto calling for media freedom and pluralism in Europe.  Now some of them have been elected to serve the citizens for the next five years, they shall keep their promises by putting media pluralism at the heart of the EU agenda because Europe’s democracy relies on independent and pluralistic journalism. The new European Parliament and…

Read the Gender Pay Gap in Journalism report

(2014 / English and Arabic) Read the IFJ Safety Guidelines for Women Journalists Working in War Zones: – English version – Arabic version

(2014 / English and French versions) Read the EFJ Policy on Sexual Harassment: English version French version