Two journalists working for the Italian newspaper La Repubblica came under fire on 26 April 2023, while reporting near the Antonivskiy Bridge on the outskirts of Kherson, in southern Ukraine. A Ukrainian journalist working as a fixer, Bohdan Bitik, was shot dead. His Italian colleague, Corrado Zunino, was wounded in the shoulder. Zunino was wearing a bulletproof vest marked “press” but it is unclear whether Bitik wore one as well. The attack was carried out “most likely by Russian snipers”, the newspaper reported. “I’m well, I’ve got a wound in my right shoulder, shaved by the bullet that hit my…

This yearʼs World Intellectual Property Day – celebrated on 26 April 2023 – is marked by critical technological developments that will change the relationship between citizens and creative works – including, crucially, the creativity that goes into producing news reporting that is factual, ethical and engaging. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) represents more than 600,000 journalists in 140 countries worldwide, and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) over 320.000 journalists in 45 countries. We are committed to quality ethical journalism, recognising that this depends on journalists making a living. Machine-learning systems are “trained” on the work of human authors, among whom are journalists, photographers…

Following a visit to Belgrade on April 10 and 11 2023 to commemorate the murder anniversary of editor and publisher Slavko Ćuruvija, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins the undersigned international press freedom and journalists’ organisations in issuing a stark warning over the state of media freedom and journalists’ safety in Serbia. Ahead of World Press Freedom Day on May 3, our shared conclusion is that 24 years after the murder of Ćuruvija in 1999, poor conditions for the safety of journalists, the weak landscape for the rule of law, media capture and a festering climate of hostility towards critical reporting mean that the…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined media freedom, freedom of expression, and human rights organisations in calling on Turkish authorities to stop the systematic harassment and intimidation of Kurdish journalists, media workers, media outlets, the lawyers that defend them, and Kurdish political party officials, give them access to legal counsel, disclose full details of charges brought and to ensure that they are released from detention. We reiterate the need for a free and pluralistic media atmosphere in the run-up to the elections that will be held on 14 May 2023. On 25 April, coordinated dawn raids in Turkey targeted…

A new poll released on Monday (24 April) by the Committee for Editorial Independence and Reporters Without Borders Austria highlights the  increasing concern of the population over the freedom of the press in the V4 countries (Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia). The research was led by Dr Václav Stetka, and gathered answers of over 4,000 people, collected by online questioning or by telephone. The project was commissioned by the Committee for Editorial Independence with the support of the Bakala Foundation, after the assessment that the audience perspective had been largely missing from the debates. It was carried out by the research agency MEDIAN for the…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined the partner organisations of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) today in expressing dismay over the recent court ruling involving a SLAPP lawsuit against independent Greek media outlet Alterthess and one of its journalists, Stavroula Poulimeni. Using the MFRR Legal Support fund, our consortium will help provide funding to cover legal fees for their appeal. In early 2023, a court in Athens partially accepted the civil lawsuit filed by the former high-ranking executive of a gold mining company, Hellas Gold, and ordered the cooperative media outlet to pay a total of €3,000 in…