The presidents of the European commission and council, Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel, will meet on Monday evening Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan over his decision to open his border to migrants travelling to Europe. The European and International Federations of Journalists (EFJ-IFJ) call on European leaders to demand that Erdogan release 94 journalists imprisoned in Turkey for doing their job. Though the number of jailed journalists in Turkey declined slightly, from 110 at the beginning of 2019 to 91 by the close of the year (94 on this date), Turkey remains a highly repressive environment for journalists.…

The European and International Federations of Journalists (EFJ-IFJ) submitted on 6 March a position paper to the European Commission (EC) on the implementation of Article 17 of the EU Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market, to ensure protected journalistic works available on online content-sharing service providers (“OCSSPs”) are effectively and fairly remunerated. Article 17 of the new Directive aims to close the “value-gap” between rights-holders and online platforms and to ensure a fair share of the wealth generated by platforms, – tech giants in particular – using protected works, is distributed to creative industries and their authors. The position…

To mark International Women’s Day on 8th March, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) urges world governments to ratify the International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention 190 on Violence and Harassment in the world of work and help reduce the “unacceptable” level of violence against women journalists. Convention 190 was adopted by the International Labor Organization (ILO) on 10th June 2019 and is now in the process of ratification by Member States. The IFJ and other Global Unions Federations have been battling for several years in support of a convention that would outlaw gender-based violence at work. According to IFJ statistics, 65% of women journalists have…

Politico Europe revealed on 2 March that internal emails were sent to Hungarian state media staff to inform about new editorial rules when reporting about Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, “sensitive topics” and when quoting human rights organisations’ reports. The instructions were dated from the second half of 2019. According to the emails, these new rules require staff to request permission before writing on Greta Thunberg and to send draft content for approval from “higher up” ahead of publication on migration, EU politics, terrorism, church issues. They also explicitly prevent journalists from mentioning reports from Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch. The European Federation…

Download the joint statement Physical attacks, online harassment and censorship – In recent days, media freedom organisations have shed light on threats against journalists reporting on the arrival of migrants into Greece. These attacks are taking place in a context of violence against migrants and those supporting them, such as NGOs and self-organised groups. They restrict the ability of journalists to work safely and inform citizens about the humanitarian crisis taking place at the borders of the European Union (EU). A safe environment is essential for journalists to perform their role as watchdogs of democracy. The current situation in Greece…

Last week Swedish citizen and book publisher Gui Minhai was sentenced in China to ten years in prison for espionage. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined its affiliates in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden in calling on the Chinese government to free Gui Minhai. Minhai is a book publisher who was running a publishing house in Hong Kong. He went missing in Thailand in October 2015 and later turned up imprisoned in China on suspicion of illegal business operation – the charges against him changed several times. According to media reports, a court in Ningbo said on Tuesday…