The Swiss journalist and writer, Roman Berger, recalled his journey to Moscow at the EFJ Annual Meeting and the struggle for journalists and their unions to be independent in a country like Russia where the state controls everything. “Moscow is not a media desert with only pro-government media” – this is Berger’s conclusion. By Roman Berger   The delegate from Estonia has summed up the reason of his presence at the EFJ Annual Meeting: „Only when I found out after my research that the Russian Union of Journalists (RUJ) is a critical organisation, my union was willing to send me…

(1.12.2014) Affiliée de la FEJ, la Fédération espagnole des syndicats de journalistes (FeSP) a demandé, ce lundi, la démission du ministre espagnol de l’Intérieur, Jorge Fernández Díaz (Parti populaire). En cause: le maintien du projet de loi „Mordaza“ sur la sécurité citoyenne, qui limite le droit des journalistes et des photographes à rendre compte des protestations publiques et des manifestations citoyennes. La FEJ, au même titre que de nombreuses autres organisations non gouvernementales (Amnesty International, Greenpeace, RSF…), a dénoncé la portée liberticide de ce projet de loi. Le Comité directeur fédéral de la FeSP, réuni dimanche à Madrid, a décidé…

(1.12.2014) – English / Français (en dessous) – The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has taken part in a three-day international mission on press freedom in Spain from 1 to 3 December, carried out by six international media freedom organisations including the EFJ, the International Press Institute (IPI), Access Info Europe, Open Society Foundation (OSF), Reporters without Borders (RSF) and the World Association of Newspaper Publishers (WAN-IFRA). The Mission is the first in its kind to find out the state of press freedom in Spain with media visits in Madrid and Barcelona in the wake of austerity crisis. „Like other countries in southern…

(Brussels, 28 November 2014) The First Vice-President of the European Commission, Mr. Frans Timmermans, has told a delegation from the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) that sustaining quality journalism and putting Europe’s media freedom back on track will be high on his agenda. Mr Timmermans, the First Vice-President who is also the EU Commissioner in charge of Better Regulation, Inter-Institutional Relations, Rule of Law and Charter of Fundamental Rights highlighted that the financial crisis in the European media industry is affecting journalists‘ rights, jobs and journalism as a public good. „Preserving reliable and quality information is an existential question for…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has joined forces with the Council of Europe (CoE) and media freedom partner agencies, in launching a new online “rapid reaction” platform for journalists under threats. The platform would allow trusted media freedom partner agencies to post “alerts” on a public, centralised online platform when individual journalists are in danger or their work is under threat – opening the way for swift reactions from international organisations which uphold media freedom standards, such as the Council of Europe, OSCE Media Freedom Representative, EU and UN. The platform will be launched on 4 December in Paris…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) have today staged an action in Brussels to support its affiliate, the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ), whose members were accused of violating the law for their campaign action on 5 November, Stand up for Journalism Day. The EFJ and IFJ (in the picture) have mimicked the action taken by the BAJ members on 5 November in order to show the ridiculousness of the police charges. The charges were brought against the group after they took a picture in Vitebsk to support the Stand Up For Journalism…

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) today joined the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ), their affiliate in Belarus, in asking the national authorities to drop the charges against several journalists accused by the police of holding an unauthorised action. The charges were brought against the group after they took a picture in Vitebsk to support the Stand Up For Journalism Day of the EFJ held on 5 November. They are now waiting a court appearance. According to the open letter published by BAJ calling for the charges to be dropped, seven of its…

„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…

(20.11.2014) The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has carried out a mission to Ukraine on 6 – 8 November to investigate the situation facing journalists reporting in conflict areas. Yannis Kotsifos, a member of the EFJ Steering Committee has visited the EFJ affiliates (NUJU and IMTUU) in Kiev to understand the challenges they face in protecting their journalists. “ Since the political crisis in Ukraine broken out in November 2013, journalists have been at the heart of these events covering violent demonstrations, clashes and armed conflict. They have been shot at, assaulted, kidnapped, arrested, abused and killed. They have been…

The EFJ Annual Meeting in Moscow on 20 – 21 November 2014 has adopted 18 resolutions  on Economic Crisis, Labour Rights, Gender Ethics, Press Freedom and Safety EU Lobbying You can download the resolutions in English or French. The Annual Meeting has also made statements to express solidarity with journalists and their unions in Greece, France, Palestine and the Philippines. (read the statements in English / French).