On 29 June, as journalist Thomas Dietrich was about to publish an investigation entitled “When Macron protects Marine Le Pen’s financier” for online media OFF Investigation, he received a chilling threat of violence sent on the Whatsapp instant messaging network. The International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) and their affiliates in France, SNJ, SNJ-CGT, CFDT-Journalistes and SGJ-FO, strongly condemn these actions, apparently aimed at preventing Dietrich from publishing his work. We call on the authorities to investigate the threats against him. Thomas Dietrich, an investigative journalist specialising in “Françafrique” (France’s sphere of influence over former French colonies in sub-Saharan…

More than 60 media, journalists and civil society organizations, including the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ),  have signed an open letter urging Israel to give journalists independent access to Gaza. The organizations – which include the EFJ, Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, BBC, CNN, The Guardian, The New York Times, and The Washington Post – point out that no independent media access to Gaza has been permitted since the start of the war, increasing the pressure on domestic journalists, and creating a space for mis- and disinformation to flourish. “More than 100 journalists have been killed since the start of the war and…

Come to Voices as an awardee!  The Voices Awards are back for the second edition of the Voices Festival, the brand-new itinerant event co-funded by the European Commission to celebrate Journalism and Media Literacy in Europe. Free registration is already open for this next edition which will take place in Zagreb, Croatia from 25 February to 1 March 2025.  The awards aim at recognising the works of journalists that best convey the values and goals of the Voices Festival, with a competition rewarding innovative ideas and change-makers around journalism. Each winner will receive a €1,000 monetary prize. Find below the…

Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office on Wednesday has labeled The Moscow Times news outlet an “undesirable organisation”, outlawing its activities inside Russia and leaving anybody who cooperates with them open to criminal prosecution. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and its Russian affiliate JMWU strongly condemn this new censorship action, which aims to invisibilise and criminalise independent voices. “A decision has been taken to declare the activities of The Moscow Times, a foreign non-government organisation, undesirable on the territory of the Russian Federation,” the office of Russia’s Prosecutor General said in a statement. It said the outlet was “aimed at discrediting…

The undersigned media freedom, human rights and journalists’ groups call on the new European Commission and the new European Parliament to strengthen their commitment to protecting journalists’ rights and freedom of expression in their relations with Turkey. Relations between the European Union and Turkey have been at an impasse for several years with Turkey occupying the status of an applicant country in a process that has long since stalled. The EU institutions need to find a way to reinvigorate relations and ensure that the protection of human rights is front and centre of those relations. Over the past two decades, Turkey’s…

Serbian authorities should not extradite Belarusian journalist Andrey Gniot to face criminal charges in Belarus and release him immediately. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), its affiliates in Serbia (UNS, NUNS, Sinos and Nezavisnost) and several journalists’ organisations in Serbia (Association of Independent Electronic Media, Independent Association of Journalists of Vojvodina) call on the Serbian Minister of Justice, Maja Popović, to oppose his extradition. Serbian authorities detained Gniot upon his arrival in the country on October 30, 2023, based on a September 21 Interpol arrest warrant issued by the Belarusian Interpol bureau, for alleged tax evasion charges. In December 2023,…