On January 15 and 16, 2018, an international delegation of press freedom organisation representatives visited Zagreb to observe the state of media freedom in Croatia. This was the second such visit in two years. After the fact-finding mission in June 2016 produced particularly bad results (please find here the report), the representatives of the South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), the Association of European Journalists (AEJ), the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and Reporters without Borders (RSF) did find a slightly more positive situation at the…

The European Union and Turkey will see no progress in their relations as long as Turkey holds journalists in prison, the president of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker said on Friday (12/01/2018) at a news conference in Bulgaria. The president of the European Commission made this comment following the news that a Criminal Court in Istanbul defied the Turkish Constitutional Court’s decision ruling that the journalists’ rights had been violated and subsequently to release imprisoned journalists Mehmet Altan and Sahin Alpay.   “Turkey is moving away from its European ambitions of the past and we are going to have to see…

The International and European Federation of Journalists (IFJ and EFJ) have backed their Greek affiliates, standing with 420 MEGA TV station journalists and media workers left with no pay and no jobs for over 16 months. MEGA is one of the first private TV stations established in Greece, 28 years ago, and has attracted large audiences for practicing reliable and quality journalism in news bulletins and news programs and producing very popular series. During the past months, the station was broadcasting only entertainment content, bringing in a lot of advertising money. However the journalists were left with no pay. The…

A High Criminal Court of Istanbul has defied a Constitutional Court’s ruling that the rights of journalists Mehmet Altan and Sahin Alpay to liberty and freedom of expression have been violated and the two journalists should be released from custody. The lower court said the judgment was a “usurpation of authority” and therefore could not be accepted. Initially, the lower courts impacted by the ruling said the detentions would be reviewed after the top court’s reasoned decisions were formally communicated. In turn, the Turkish Constitutional Court then released its judgments and posted notes on social media saying that they are…

A European delegation of representatives from the various political parties of the European Parliament has released on Thursday the report from its mission to Malta, on 30 November and 1 December 2017. The delegation met Maltese journalists, the police commissioner and the attorney general of Malta, to discuss important issues affecting the rule of law in the country – including the state of the media. Maltese journalists from the Times of Malta, the Malta Independent and The Shift News were greeted by the delegation. The journalists highlighted legal challenges facing journalists, including libel cases, which are easy for the accusers but…

The Reuters Institute for the study of journalism has predicted the year 2018 in journalism with the release of its report, ‘Journalism, Media, and Technology Trends and Predictions 2018’, part of its Digital News Project 2018. Digitisation is a key theme: according to a survey of 194 editors, CEOs and digital leaders in media, almost half of publishers are more worried about the power and influence of platforms – especially Facebook and Snapchat – than this time last year. According to the report, however, platforms will be more wary about the reputational damage that comes with news. Reuters predicts that platforms…