On 7 March 2023, the Partner Organisations of the Platform to Promote the Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists, including the European and International Federations of Journalist (EFJ/IFJ), publish their 2023 annual report under the title “War in Europe and the fight for the right to report”. The report reveals a continued degradation of press freedom across the continent. Throughout 2022, the Platform documented 289 alerts concerning 37 countries, with journalists being murdered, imprisoned, physically attacked, legally harassed, and subjected to smear campaigns. The annual report has cast doubt on Member States’ commitment to upholding obligations on freedom of expression,…

On Tuesday 7 March 2023 the Council of Europe Platform to Promote the Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists, with the participation of partner organisations including the European and International Federations of Journalists (EFJ-IFJ), will launch its report “War in Europe and the Fight for the Right to Report” at the Brussels Press Club in Belgium. The annual report highlights key areas of law, policy and practices affecting media freedom and safety of journalists in Europe and identifies actions required to improve effective protection of journalists. With the participation of: Sarah Clarke, Head of the Europe and Central Asia team, Article 19 Nicola…

In January 2023, Swedish business and finance publication Realtid confirmed that they had reached a settlement with businessman Svante Kumlin over a legal action Kumlin had taken as a result of articles published in late 2020. Under the terms of the settlement, while Kumlin will pay part of Realtid’s legal fees, Realtid is obliged to share a clarification and apology on its website on three of its articles about Kumlin and his company Eco Energy World (EEW). The settlement comes more than two years after the legal action against Realtid and their journalists was initiated, and seven months after a…

More than a hundred works councils, union sections and RLTs, convened by the Spanish journalists’ unions CCOO, UGT and FeSP, will take to the streets on 1 March 2023 to demand decent wages and working conditions. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) expresses its support for the Spanish journalists’ unions and the striking journalists.   For the first time, the works councils of Vocento, Unidad Editorial, Prisa and Promecal have joined forces to demand that the management of the daily press sector meet to negotiate pay rises for all staff of their newspapers, magazines and all the companies involved. This…

In the week of the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Dainius Radzevičius, President of the Lithuanian Journalists’ Union (LŽS), shares the work done in collaboration with Sergiy Tomilenko, President of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU), and a unique initiative: the magazine “We are from Ukraine!”. The publication has been put together by journalists, publishers, translators and media organisations from both countries, and the first edition was published in 80,000 copies. The teams behind the collaborative project are from Vilnius, Klaipeda and various cities in Ukraine. “The main idea was cooperation,” said…

A Polish court extended Pablo González’s pre-trial detention for the fourth time on 15 February 2023, meaning he will spend up to a further three months in prison. The Spanish freelance journalist was arrested on 28 February 2022, accused of being “an agent of Russian intelligence”, while covering the humanitarian crisis on the Polish-Ukrainian border. The International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) and their Spanish affiliates call on the authorities to release González without further delay, and ensure he will receive a fair trial. “The case is still in the Prosecutor’s Office. This is an investigation, and it is…