The undersigned Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) consortium partners express deep alarm over the passage of new media law by the Kosovo Parliament this month. We share local and international concerns that this law does not meet international standards on free expression and threatens media freedom, including by granting the authorities greater control over media regulation. The MFRR has previously joined civil society organizations in Kosovo in raising alarms over the law for the Independent Media Commission (IMC). Critics have seen the proposed legislation as an attack on the media, expressing worries that the ruling party may use this law to censor them. Now, this risks becoming a…

On 19 July, a Russian court has sentenced US-Russian journalist Alsu Kurmasheva to six and a half years in prison for spreading so-called “false information” about the military. Her employer, RFE/RL, and the European and International Federations of Journalists (EFJ-IFJ) slammed the trial as a “mockery of justice”. The EFJ, the IFJ and their Russian affiliate JMWU are calling for her immediate release. Kurmasheva, an editor with the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) outlet in Prague, was convicted on Friday – the same day a separate Russian court sentenced US journalist Evan Gershkovich for 16 years on espionage charges,…

The undersigned organisations, including members of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), express deep concerns about the physical attacks targeting Melita Vrsaljko, a journalist working for the Croatian fact-checking website Faktograf.hr and the Climate Portal. Vrsaljko was assaulted twice in the same week, in the street and at her home in Nadin due to her journalistic work. We urge the Croatian authorities not to let these unprecedented attacks go unpunished. On 15 July 2024, journalist Melita Vrsaljko and a freelance camera operator were working on a documentary co-produced by the Climate Portal, which focused on climate change and waste. While…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and its Russian affiliate JMWU firmly condemn the decision of Russia’s Sverdlovsk Oblast court to sentence US reporter Evan Gershkovich to 16 years in a high-security prison on charges of alleged espionage. Russian authorities did not produce evidence to support the accusations against him. The EFJ considers this trial behind closed doors and this sentence to be an act of pure political repression. We demand Evan Gershkovich’s release, as well as that of the 139 journalists imprisoned in Europe. Gershkovich has reported from Russia for many years and has repeatedly received official accreditation from…

Following Ursula von der Leyen’s re-appointment as President of the European Commission, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), together with media, press and journalists organisations, sent a letter to the newly elected President. The letter aims at addressing crucial topics regarding press freedom, safety of journalists and EU mechanisms such as the European Media Freedom Act or the Digital Services Act, which the coalition wants to see among the political priorities of the Commission’s next term.    

At least thirty Ukrainian journalists, -6 women and 24 men-, and media workers remain illegally detained in Russia, according to data from the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU), an affiliate of the International and the European Federations of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ). The IFJ and the EFJ have joined their affiliate’s campaign in urging the Russian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release all unfairly imprisoned Ukrainian journalists.  Nearly two and a half years after the start of the war in Ukraine, in February 2022, there is no sign that the violence will end, and the list of Ukrainian journalists in…