On April 2018 the European Commission presented a proposal to enhance cross-border gathering of electronic evidence: a Regulation on European Production and Preservation Orders for electronic evidence in criminal matters. It would allow Member States to request the production or preservation of electronic data stored (such as emails, text or messages in apps, as well as information to identify a perpetrator as a first step) in a different Member State via production and/or preservation orders needed for investigation and prosecution of crimes covered by the Regulation. The European Commission proposed on 5 February 2019 to start international negotiations on cross-border access…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) launched on 4 February 2020 in the European Parliament its new publication on the transposition of the EU whistleblower directive. The event was co-organised by Free Press Unlimited (FPU), Whistleblowing International Network (WIN) and hosted by MEP Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield (Greens/EFA). The author, International whistleblower lawyer Mary Inman, highlighted concrete recommendations on key articles. Entitled “Implementing the new Whistleblower directive: a transposition guide for journalists“, it aims to provide journalists’ organisations with information on how the directive may affect their profession and highlights areas where further outreach efforts are needed at the national level. In…

Today, the International Press Institute (IPI), the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), the Journalists Union of Turkey (TGS), Reporters without Borders (RSF) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), called for an immediate end to the ban on public advertising on the two independent newspapers Evrensel and BirGün. Both newspapers are part of a shrinking club of media that have stubbornly resisted pressure to curb their independent journalism and readiness to criticize the authorities. Since September they have been subjected to indefinite bans imposed by BIK (Basin Ilan Kurumu), the agency responsible for the distribution of the state advertising budget.…

NEW DEADLINE TO APPLY: 20 MAY Application form Are you a young media professional eager to gain skills, boost your career, test your ideas, and expand your network? Stars4Media is an exchange and training programme for young media professionals (“rising stars”) between cooperating media organisations, to accelerate media innovation and cross-border coverage in Europe.  Stars4Media will encourage innovation through skill-building activities between paired media organisations to test ideas, produce contents and develop initiatives around 4 strategic themes.  Who are we looking for ? Participants of this project will be young working media professionals (“rising stars”) with 2-10 years of media…

A court extended the provisional detention of Daghestani newspaper Chernovik’s editor Abdulmumin Gadzhiev until 13 March 2020. The Russian Journalists’ and Media Workers’ Union (JMWU) called on the authorities for his immediate release, given that the charges against him are baseless. Gadzhiev was arrested on 14 June 2019 by the security services of the Republic of Dagestan on terrorism charges. According to JMWU, the case is based on a testimony of a witness obtained under torture. Abdulmumin Gadzhiev faces up to 20 years in prison. As the Russian government systematically prohibits all forms of protest, except solitary pickets, journalists in solidarity from…

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today released its annual report of killings of journalists, detailing 49 deaths worldwide in 2019 (including two in Europe). The world’s largest organisation of journalists reiterated its call for a real commitment by governments to fight impunity for crimes committed against journalists and for media employers to provide safety training, insurance and equipment for their staff in the field. On 31 December 2019, the IFJ published its list of media workers killed in the line of duty, showing 49 journalists killed in 2019, including three women, half as many as in previous years. The report, published on 4 February, provides…