The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins the undersigned organisations in strongly condemning the intensifying use of Article 217/A of the Turkish Penal Code — widely known as the “disinformation law” — to arrest, detain, and prosecute journalists, and calling on the government to repeal the provision immediately and release all journalists imprisoned under it. Since the law entered into force in October 2022, at least 83 journalists have been charged 114 times over disinformation according to news reports. The scale of Article 217/A’s use against journalists has been starkly illustrated in a recent article. The two journalists most frequently…

By Zoran Pehar, Trade Union of Croatian Journalists Can self-employed workers strike? Can they secure their rights through a collective agreement? How can unions protect them? And should we work with artificial intelligence or against it? Over the past two years, the project “Building stronger Unions in the Media, Arts & Entertainment Sector to Tackle the Challenges of Freelance Work, AI and Sectoral Change” has sought answers to these questions. The project is relevant to the wider cultural and creative sector, where Eurostat records around 2.5 million self-employed workers in the EU, and especially to the narrower group of creative…

A new government bill which would overhaul the funding model for the Czech public media risks financially weakening the broadcasters, eroding safeguards for their financial independence and violating European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), the undersigned Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) partners, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and other media freedom, journalist and freedom of expression organisations warn today. Our organisations call on the European Commission to closely assess this bill regarding its compatibility with Article 5 of EMFA and to ensure that no reforms are undertaken which threaten the financial, editorial or institutional independence of the Czech public media.…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and international press freedom and journalist organisations are today calling on the Maltese authorities to make long-overdue media reforms an immediate priority, and to commit to meaningful and transparent collaboration with national and international civil society.  The assassination of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017 generated significant pressure to improve working conditions for all journalists in Malta. A 2021 public inquiry, established independently to assess the circumstances of her murder found the state had to “shoulder responsibility” because it had created an “atmosphere of impunity” and failed to take reasonable steps to protect…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) with Europod released their first episode of the Voices podcast “Journalism in War: Solidarity Beyond Borders”. Recorded in March during the third edition of Voices Festival, it explores the challenges journalists face when reporting from conflict zones and the structures that have been established to support them. At this year’s festival, Voices presented the Media Freedom Award to the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) and the teams behind the network of Journalists’ Solidarity Centres. These hubs were developed as a response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, to provide journalists…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and its partners from the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) consortium welcomes yesterday’s acquittal of writer and journalist Roberto Saviano in a case brought by current Italy’s  Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Matteo Salvini, setting a landmark ruling for press freedom and freedom of expression in Italy. On 16 April 2026, the Criminal Court of Rome acquitted Saviano of criminal defamation, rejecting both the public prosecutor’s request for a €10,000 fine and the additional €100,000 damages sought by Salvini’s legal team. The case was initiated by Minister Matteo Salvini in response to a number…