On 9-10 March 2026, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined its Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) partners for its third visit to Rome in five years. The MFRR mission found that Italy has continued on a negative trajectory, resulting in a further erosion of media freedom. This report presents the findings from the mission and MFRR’s ongoing monitoring, offering an analysis of the four most urgent issues identified by the consortium.The persistent political interference in Italy’s public broadcaster Radiotelevisione Italiana (Rai) epitomises the most concerning trend in the Italian media sector, its governance and funding models failing to comply with…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins its German affiliates, dju in ver.di and DJV, in calling on the German government to abandon its plans to gut Germany’s Freedom of Information Act. The proposed amendments threaten press freedom and core human rights essential to transparency and public participation in a democracy based on the rule of law. On 2 July, the coalition committee of the German government, comprised of the Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD), decided to significantly amend Germany’s Freedom of Information Act. The changes will severely restrict the ability of the public, including…

The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Michael O’Flaherty, published a letter today addressed to the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Azerbaijan, seeking clarification regarding the criminal proceedings against journalist Afgan Sadigov, editor-in-chief of the news website Azel.tv, who was arrested on 8 June and subsequently remanded in pre-trial detention. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) welcomes the Commissioner’s letter and calls on the international community, including the Council of Europe and the European Union, to press Azerbaijan to guarantee Sadigov’s safety and freedom of movement. The journalist must be able to leave Azerbaijan and reunite with his family…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined the undersigned media freedom, freedom of expression, journalists’ and human rights organisations express profound alarm at the recent wave of detentions and arrests of journalists and civil society representatives in Türkiye in the immediate lead-up to the NATO Summit in Ankara on 7-8 July. In the last two weeks, Turkish authorities have launched a coordinated crackdown on critical voices in the country, including independent media. In this period, the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) monitoring platform Mapping Media Freedom documented 11 journalists and media workers detained under vague or unjustified pretexts, many with…

Three journalists were detained in a new wave of countrywide police raids in Turkey ahead of the NATO summit, which begins today in the capital city Ankara. The International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) join their affiliates, DİSK Basın-İş, Türkiye Gazeteciler Sendikası (TGS), Türkiye Gazeteciler Cemiyeti (TGC), Gazeteciler Cemiyeti (GCD) and İzmir Gazeteciler Cemiyeti (IGC), in calling for the immediate release of the detained journalists. On 5 July, T24 journalist Buse Söğütlü, OdaTV journalist Ceren Erdoğdu and Nihaplus journalist and Bianet contributor Abbas Vural were detained in the second wave of pre-dawn police raids conducted in at least eight cities ahead of the NATO summit in Turkey. They…

On 3 July, the Belgian Competition Authority (Autorité belge de la Concurrence or ABC) conditionally authorised the takeover of the IPM media group – publisher of the daily newspapers “La Libre”, “La Dernière Heure” and “L’Avenir” – by the Rossel media group, publisher of the daily newspapers “Le Soir” and “Sudinfo”, paving the way for the creation of a monopoly on daily newspaper publishing in the French-speaking part of the country. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins its affiliate, the Association of Professional Journalists (AJP), in calling on the publisher to inform, consult and negotiate the terms of the…