The highly-anticipated second edition of Voices will be hosted at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb on 28 February-1 March 2025. “New technologies are dramatically reshaping opinion-making dynamics and the media landscape. After the success of the first edition in Florence, the next edition of Voices will continue to raise awareness about the current risks to ethical journalism, media pluralism, and European democracy,” said Giovanni Melogli, the project coordinator. Reflecting on the value of incorporating media literacy into the event, he added, “It is crucial for citizens to become more critical users of media and social media. Voices aims…

Critics warn: proposed law could seriously undermine the independence of  public media Journalists and media freedom groups are urging Slovakia’s MPs to reject the proposed public service broadcasting bill scheduled for parliamentary review next week. Despite recent amendments to the bill, the new structure would lead to the politicization of the broadcaster in breach of the European Media Freedom Act. The public broadcasting bill aiming to replace Radio and Television of Slovakia (RTVS) with a new entity, Slovak Television and Radio (STVR), will be discussed by the Parliament next week after its finalization by the government in May.  If passed…

On 5 June, the Kofi Annan Foundation (KAF), the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and Reporters without Borders (RSF) organised a roundtable discussion at the Brussels Press Club on the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), which came into force on 7 May. Opening remarks were provided by Corinne Momal-Vanian, Executive Director of KAF, Renate Schroeder, Director of EFJ, and Antoine Bernard, Director of Advocacy at RSF, followed by a keynote speech from Vice-President of the European Commission, Vera Jourova. Sébastien Brack, KAF’s representative in Brussels, moderated a panel discussion with Renate Nikolay, Deputy Director-General of DG Connect, Frederic Bokobza, Deputy…

The Supreme Court’s council decided on 10 April 2024, overturning the previous verdicts of the lower courts, which had determined that the Croatian Radiotelevision’s (HRT) 2018 decision to summarily terminate the employment contract of Hrvoje Zovko, the president of the Croatian Journalists’ Association (CJA) and then executive editor of HTV4, was unlawful and the termination unjustified. The Supreme Court concluded that the verbal altercation between Zovko and Katarina Periša Čakarun, the senior editor of HRT’s Informative Media Service, constituted “an attack on the employer, insults, and an assault on the honor and reputation of the employer,” and thus represented a…

The International and European Federation of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) and its affiliate, the Trade Union of Media of Montenegro (TUMM), sent a letter to the members of the Parliament of Montenegro expressing serious concern about the significant last-minute changes to the draft Law on National Public Broadcasting in Montenegro. The Prime Minister’s Office has amended the agreed text of the draft Law, on which the Working Group on Media Legislation had been working for almost 30 months, without public consultation. We urge the Parliament to clarify and amend the text to ensure the normal and sustainable functioning of the endangered media…

The undersigned international media freedom, free expression, and journalist organisations call on the German authorities to conduct a thorough investigation into the physical attack by Berlin police on Mexican video journalist Ignacio Rosaslanda while he was covering a police operation. The journalist who is working for the daily Berliner Zeitung was not only prevented from reporting and physically abused but was also arbitrarily detained for hours without medical care. We urge authorities to take appropriate measures to ensure that the attack does not go unpunished and strengthen the protection of journalists who are vulnerable targets during demonstrations.   On 23 May…