European Federation of Journalists

Media Against Hate

#MediaAgainstHate is a Europe-wide campaign led by the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and a coalition of civil society organisations. We aim to counter hate speech and discrimination in the media, both on and offline, by promoting ethical standards, while maintaining respect for freedom of expression. Our work is underpinned by the belief that the rights to equality and freedom of expression are mutually reinforcing and essential to human dignity.

The media and journalists play a crucial role in informing both policy and societal opinion regarding migration and refugees. As hate speech and stereotypes targeting migrants proliferate across Europe, balanced and fair media reporting is needed more than ever. Despite some good journalism practices, additional training and resources for media professionals and media organisations will help promote dialogue and democratic processes.

Involving partners from across Europe, including ARTICLE 19, Media Diversity Institute (MDI), Croatian Journalists’ Association (CJA), Cooperazione per lo Sviluppo dei Paesi Emergenti (COSPE), Community Media Institute (COMMIT), Community Media Forum Europe (CMFE) and the EFJ, the #MediaAgainstHate campaign aims to:

  • improve media coverage related to migration, refugees, religion and marginalised groups in general;
  • improve capacity of journalists, media, CSOs and community media to counter hate speech, intolerance, racism and discrimination;
  • improve implementation of legal frameworks regulating hate speech and freedom of speech;
  • raise awareness about various types of discrimination through better reporting on the above issues
  • provide support to journalists exposing hate speech who have become targets and victims of hatred and harassment for speaking out

A series of trainings and workshops will be organised for media professionals, representatives of CSOs and media regulators across Europe to exchange best practices and promote mutual learning and cooperation activities.

As part of the campaign, a video contest will be launched to collect multilingual examples of counter-narratives fighting stereotypes and discrimination.

For more information and regular updates, please visit the website.

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Media Against Hate: Training modules

The rise of online hate speech poses challenges both to media professionals and our democratic values. This training module, divided into 4 elements, is designed to help media professionals deal with ethical problems. Module 1: Practices on migrants and refugees Module 2: Inclusion through media Module 3: Media Against ‘Hate Speech’ Module 4: How to counter hate speech and manage an online community These publications were produced as part of “Media Against Hate”, a Europewide campaign initiated by the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and a coalition of civil society organisations.

Nordic Freelance conference: solidarity to support freelance journalists under attack in Belarus

The Nordic Freelance Conference 2018 took place this year in Malmö, Sweden. The Frilans Riks, the freelance section within the Swedish Union of Journalist (SJF), organised a two day conference focusing on threats against freelance journalists in particular from right wing extremists, rise in self-censorship, dialogue with the police, media situation in Belarus, as well as the power structure of the big tech companies (“GAFA”). EFJ Director Renate Schroeder outlined the work of EFJ and its Freelance Expert Group (FREG) with a special focus on its advocacy work in Brussels for improving freelance rights and monitoring increasing threats against (freelance)…

Counter-Islamophobia Kit Project Seminar

The Counter-Islamophobia Kit project documents and critically analyses dominant Islamophobic narratives in operation, and also counter-Islamophobia narratives and related best practices employed in eight EU member states (Belgium, the UK, France, Germany, Hungary, Greece, Portugal, and the Czech Republic) in order to produce the Counter-Islamophobia Kit. This Toolkit identifies and postulates narratives, arguments, strategies and actions that will be able to directly counter Islamophobia and set guidelines on best practice aimed at countering this form of racism. The CIK Project Knowledge Exchange event aims to present the results of the Counter-Islamophobia Kit Project related to the Belgian context, as well…

Media Against Hate Conference calls for higher ethical standards and effective self-regulation in journalism

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) held the final conference of the 18-month campaign ”Media Against Hate” to counter hate speech in the media in Brussels, on 5-6 March 2018. The conference was attended by around 60 participants from all over Europe including journalists, community media, media regulators, journalists’ unions, IT companies and policymakers. Harlem Désir, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media opened the conference with a keynote speech. He emphasised high ethical standards in journalism and effective self-regulation are key to combat hate speech and disinformation in the media. Mr. Désir said, ” This is a challenging…

‘Media (literacy) and Refugees’ events to discuss media role in representing migrants

The European Association of Viewers’ Interests (EAVI) and MyStory project have announced their ‘Media (Literacy) and Refugees’ event, taking place on 5 December 2017 at L42 Rue de la Loi. EAVI is a non-profit international organisation, working across Europe to promote media literacy. In the morning, a series of roundtable discussions will look at the way media shapes citizens’ perceptions of migrants and refugees. The discussions will highlight the success of grassroots organisations and their media initiatives, and touch on media literacy, journalism, civil society and fake news. The project Media Against Hate will be presented at this occasion. Registration here.…

Manifesto of Venice against gender-based violence

The “Manifesto of Venice”, a manifesto for gender equality and correct information, will be launched on the World Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls, on 25 November 2017. Signed by 800 journalists, including directors of national newspapers in Italy, the manifesto will be launched by the EFJ affiliate in Italy, the Federazione Nazionale Stampa Italiana (FNSI) Equal Opportunities Committee (CPO). It is a result of their collaboration with the CPO of Unione Sindacale Giornalisti Rai and Giornaliste Unite Libere Autonome (GiULiA), following a proposal by the Veneto Journalists’ Union. “We, journalist signatories of the Manifesto of Venice, are…