The International and European Federation of Journalists (IFJ- EFJ) joins their Turkish affiliates, the Gazeteciler Cemiyeti (GCD), the Journalists’ Union of Türkiye (TGS), DİSK Basın-İş, the İzmir Gazeteciler Cemiyeti and the Türkiye Gazeteciler Cemiyeti (TGC), in strongly condemning the appointment of a trustee to Halk TV and the suspension of its broadcasts on 14 October 2026. The federations denounce the move as a grave attack on press freedom and on the public’s right to information. “Türkiye has woken to a bleak day for democracy and press freedom,” the GCD said in its statement. Early today, police raided Halk TV’s building…

Ahead of the European Council summit on 15–16 October, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and more than 600 organisations call on EU leaders to defend a strong AgoraEU budget. The Irish Presidency has proposed a 30% cut to AgoraEU, the largest cut in its draft budget. AgoraEU funds journalism, media, culture and civil society. The cut would save just 0.2% of the EU budget, but could do lasting damage to Europe’s democratic resilience. For journalism, the timing could not be worse. News media are at financial risk in almost every EU country, and news deserts are spreading. Meanwhile, the…

On 14 October 2026, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined its Albanian affiliates, the Safe Journalists Network, and numerous other organisations — including partners from the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) — in urging the authorities to take action in response to repeated violence and obstruction affecting journalists covering the protests. Addressed to: Mr Niko Peleshi, Speaker of the Parliament of Albania Mr Ervin Demo, Minister of Interior Mr Toni Gogu, Minister of Justice Ms Jorida Tabaku, Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights and Public Information Media Mr Fatmir Xhafaj, Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Citizens’…

In recent weeks, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has documented more than ten cases of violence and obstruction of press freedom targeting journalists covering student and high school protests in France. More than half of these incidents are attributable to law enforcement officers. Once again, our conclusion is unequivocal: media professionals, even when clearly identified as such, are not safe in the field. The EFJ strongly condemns this violence and calls on the competent authorities to identify and sanction those responsible, including law enforcement officers. The Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of the Interior and law enforcement are also…

On 6-7 of October 2026, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) conducted an advocacy meeting as part of the IMPACT project funded by the European Commission. Together with our Hungarian affiliates, the Hungarian Press Union (HPU) and the Hungarian Association of Journalists (MUOSZ), a series of conversations with major stakeholders dealing with the transformation in media were held to evaluate the state of the country’s media landscape after 16 years under Viktor Orbán’s government, and look ahead of what needs to be done to create a truly independent media landscape in Hungary. “Independent media survived Orbán’s government through the support…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins the undersigned partners of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) in condemning the distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack against the Mapping Media Freedom platform on 30 September and 1 October 2026 and in expressing their solidarity with the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), which operates it. The attack overwhelmed the platform’s servers and temporarily disrupted public access. ECPMF took technical measures to restore access and the platform was accessible again on 2 October. ECPMF reported the attack to the Leipzig police on 6 October. According to its latest public update, there…