Today the European Parliament adopted the report on “copyright and generative artificial intelligence” drafted by MEP Axel Voss (by 460 votes to 71, 88 abstentions). The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) welcomes this first step as a sign of political will to strengthen and make fairer the copyright framework protecting journalists from the unauthorised use of their work in AI training and content generation. Until now, AI companies have been relying on journalistic content without seeking consent, providing remuneration, or ensuring transparency about how such material is used. This practice not only undermines journalists’ intellectual property rights but also threatens…

Yesterday, Swiss citizens voted by a clear majority to support independent, high-quality journalism and a strong public broadcasting system. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins its Swiss affiliates, syndicom and impressum, in welcoming the rejection of the “SBC Initiative” which sought to reduce the annual media licence fee for the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC). Put to a vote on 8 March, the right-wing Swiss People’s Party proposed to cap the annual household licence fee for SBC to 200 Swiss francs (222€) instead of 335 Swiss francs (372€), with businesses becoming exempt. This would have led to drastic job cuts…

To mark International Women’s Day on 8 March, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins partners of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) today in publishing alarming data highlighting how women journalists across Europe continue to face enhanced risk through systematic gender-based violence in the past year. Our 2025 monitoring documented 53 cases of gender-based violence targeting women media professionals across EU Member States and candidate countries, including online smear campaigns, threats of sexual violence and derogatory comments about physical appearance. This data, recorded on the MFRR’s Mapping Media Freedom platform, reaffirms that women journalists are disproportionately affected by gender-based…

A recent defamation decision by the Court of Appeal in North Macedonia against the Investigative Reporting Lab (IRL) is a worrying development for media freedom in the country which should be overturned on further appeal, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and organisations of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) said today. At a public hearing before the Court of Appeal in Skopje on 26 February, the court ruled against IRL’s appeal and upheld the defamation verdict previously handed down to the media outlet and its editor-in-chief Saška Cvetkovska. IRL is an independent and non-profit investigative media platform and a local partner of the Organized…

Press freedom continued to be under sustained pressure in Europe in 2025, driven by legal threats, physical attacks and intimidation, attempts of media capture and transnational repression, according to the annual report of the partner organisations to the Council of Europe’s Platform to promote the protection of journalism and safety of journalists, of which the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) is a member. This situation was mitigated by initiatives in several states and at the European level to improve press freedom and journalists’ safety, including the adoption of action plans to protect journalists and legislation in some countries to address…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has published the report on the policy workshop “Meeting the Challenges of a Changing Journalism Landscape through Funding, EU Regulation and Dialogue”, authored by media expert Oliver Money-Kyrle. The workshop took place on 12 February 2026, within the framework of the Resilient Media for Democracy in the Digital Age project (ReMeD), a consortium of eight European universities and EFJ. It brought together journalists, journalists’ unions, NGOs, policymakers, and academics for a full day dedicated to discussing journalism funding, the rise of new media actors, and the challenges that journalism faces today. Panelists discussed the…