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In an age of information overflow when disinformation is on the rise, media plays an ever-important role in providing trustworthy and quality information to citizens. With insights offered by our experts in the field, this workshop will address the pressing questions: How can fostering audience engagement and artificial intelligence properly improve quality in journalism and regain trust from audiences? How has Covid-19 changed the trust relationship between the media and its audiences? Our confirmed speakers are Prof. Dr. Wiebke Loosen, Hans-Bredow-Institute, and Journalist and News Storytelling Researcher Shirish Kulkarni. Further potential speakers include Jonas Jungar, YLE Editor-in-chief, Jarno M. Kopenen, YLE Head…

As to discuss last year’s achievements regarding the EU supported EFJ Media Councils project and to talk about the next phase, on 11 January 2021, an informal online webinar will take place from 11 AM until 12:30 PM Brussels time. Together with three members of the European Parliament, Petra Kammerevert, Ramona Strugariu and Alexandra Geese, four consortium members,  will highlight some of their respective results in the panel. The European Federation of Journalists is the coordinating partner bringing together several European press councils and two universities. The speakers and their respective topics are listed in more detail in the agenda…

Three women journalists were detained and another was beaten by police on 5 January during a protest in the Turkish capital Ankara against the disappearance of a Kurdish student a year ago. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and their affiliate, the Journalists’ Union of Turkey (TGS) condemned the violence and demanded the immediate release of the imprisoned colleagues. Habibe Eren and Oznur Deger, journalists from feminist news agency Jin News, and freelance journalist Eylul Deniz Yasar, were among the 18 women detained while covering the rally that marked the first anniversary of 22-year-old Kurdish student…

The Geneva-based non governmental organisation Press Emblem Campaign (PEC) said yesterday that more than 600 journalists died of COVID-19 in 59 countries worldwide since March 2020. In Europe, Italy has taken the heaviest death toll with 40 confirmed victims in the year, followed by 17 in Turkey, 13 in Great Britain, 8 in Russia, 6 in Spain, and 5 in France. In particular freelance journalists and photographers are in the forefront. The PEC identified at least one death in other European countries such as Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany and Switzerland. One of the fatalities is Italian journalist Livia Giustolisi, who was the…

The satellite television channel Belsat reported on the grave situation that affects its journalists since the presidential elections in Belarus in August 2020. In total, Belsat journalists were detained 161 times, 27 were sentenced to 400 days in detention and they had to pay fines amounting to 23,514.57 USD in 2020 alone. Belsat was established in 2007 and as a multiplatform media outlet it is targeting Belarusians as well as the entire Russian language-speaking territory of the former USSR. It is a subsidiary of TVP, the Polish public broadcaster. Lukasz Byrski from Belsat TV shared synoptically: “During the crackdown on…

Judge Vanessa Baraitser today ruled against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange‘s extradition to the United States arguing it would be “oppressive by reason of Assange’s mental health”. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its UK and Australian affiliates, the NUJ and the MEAA, and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) welcome the decision and are urging the authorities to immediately release Julian Assange. The judge argued Assange suffers from depression and that there is a high risk of suicide. If extradited, she considered it likely the US would send him to prison under special administrative measures (SAMs) and wouldn’t prevent Assange from committing suicide. Therefore, she considered his…