The Italian public television RAI, Rai Journalists Trade Union (Usigrai) and the Italian EFJ affiliate, FNSI (Federazione Nazionale della Stampa Italiana), signed a new collective agreement to extend the national labour contract to journalists working in public media. For the first time, the agreement includes an ethical commitment to combat hate speech, discrimination and racism, as well as a commitment to promote gender equality and the rights of minors. This 2018-2022 agreement, signed on the 13th of March, aims to reverse the trend among media organisations to use right-grabbing contracts and provide unfair remuneration to journalists. It will include: a reduction…

The Norwegian Media Businesses’ Association (MBL) signed an unprecedented  framework agreement for freelance journalists with the Norwegian affiliate of the European Federation of Journalists, the Norwegian Union of Journalists (NJ), concerning purchase, sale and copyrights of freelance materials on Wednesday, 21 March 2018.  The NJ had been in negotiations with the MBL to establish this framework agreement since April 2016. The purpose of the agreement is to ensure predictable frameworks for freelance jobs. The framework agreement will take effect on 1 April 2018. It requires an individual agreement to be concluded between the freelancer and the employer. The NJ and the MBL will prepare templates for  agreements which…

“Cumhuriyet, as one of the most important daily newspaper in Turkey, is playing a great inspirational role for all journalists in the world and by putting your own life at risk to tell the truth in the country, you attract more respect and become an example for many of our colleagues and we would like to thank you for that”, said Oliver Money-Kyrle, IFJ Assistant General Secretary during a joint solidarity visit in Istanbul to the former imprisoned journalist Murat Sabuncu (editor in chief of Cumhuriyet). The joint delegation for the solidarity visit included representatives from the International Federation of Journalists…

36 journalists, union leaders and media experts from 20 European countries discussed issues around new business models and trends in (digital) journalism from 15-16 March 2018 in Nuremberg, Germany. With great enthusiasm participants explored recent trends in journalism,  successful new models in financing journalism and the role of unions and associations to best serve their members in this process of change. The first panel “What is trending in journalism” included academics, publishers and an editor in chief from a local newspaper, all giving interesting insights in changes in the media eco-system,  its impact on the work of journalists, use of…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) co-signed an open letter by seven international freedom of expression organisations on 23 March 2018, urging diplomats in Malta to make their presence felt concerning the investigation of the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder. “Your engagement in this case is setting a standard and precedent for what is permissible in the European Union”: We, the undersigning international organisations are closely monitoring the investigation of the murder of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia and the related court proceedings in Malta. Daphne Caruana Galizia was a journalist, a blogger, a mother of three. For years, she reported…

Turkey should immediately implement the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and release the veteran journalists Mehmet Altan and Şahin Alpay without delay, a coalition of nongovernmental groups said today. Furthermore, Turkey must ensure that domestic remedies for human rights violations are effective, in particular by ensuring the urgent review of all cases of journalists and writers currently pending before its Constitutional Court. The organizations, which had intervened as third parties in the cases before the court, included PEN International, ARTICLE 19, Committee to Protect Journalists, European Centre for Press and Media Freedom, European Federation of Journalists,…