The European Federation of Journalists backs Association of Journalists of Macedonia (AJM) in condemning verbal abuses by the authorities against journalists. Such actions are damaging for the freedom of expression and are limiting the public access to the information. One of the major political parties in Macedonia VMRO-DPMNE accused Fondation Open Society Macedonia for corrupting the journalists and urged to “clean” the “media of Soros”. AJM calls these claims “a pure spin of the government” and finds it very dangerous to call for violence against journalists, as such comments might have negative consequences in the future. The full announcement by…

On Wednesday 18, during the streaming of Barack Obama’s press conference, Facebook temporary blocked RT account on the grounds of a copyright complain. According to the social network the originally 72 hour ban happened due to the copyright notification, which they received from Current Time TV, a Russian-language media jointly owned by Radio Free Europe and the Voice of America. Russian broadcaster RT, previously known as Russia Today, claimed that they used AP direct feed, which they officially subscribed to. They believed that there might be other reasons for such actions, as this blockage wouldn’t let the media channel to…

On the tenth anniversary of the assassination of Mr Hrant Dink, EFJ-IFJ and partner organisations of the Council of Europe Platform decided to jointly submit a new case under the ‘impunity’ category in relation to the murder of the Turkish-Armenian journalist. The organisations call on the Turkish authorities to ensure that those who failed to protect the journalist and prepared false reports are brought to justice through an open and transparent judicial process. Read the alert here.   On 19 January 2007, Hrant Dink, the Turkish-Armenian journalist and founder of Agos newspaper, was shot dead at 15:05 on the street in front…

On 19 January, an indictment has been issued for hate crime against Ivan Goluban, arrested since November 2016, following threats by text message to CJA president Saša Leković. Goluban has been detained following his arrestation as the judge considered that he could potentially repeat the harassment against Leković. He is facing up to 5 years in jail. In October 2016, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) denounced the increase of hate speech and direct threats towards journalists in Croatia in an article explaining how Saša Leković escaped a serious road accident after his car appeared to have been tempered with.…

A demonstration of solidarity gathered 250 people on Wednesday 18 January 2017 in Lille, in front of the French newspaper La Voix du Nord‘s headquarters, to protest against the managers’ social plan foreseeing a 25% reduction in staff workers. La Voix du Nord‘s owner, the Belgian media group Rossel, announced in early January its plan to cut 178 jobs, including 72 journalists, while the company recorded a profit margin of 5 million EUR in 2015. Union representatives are meeting on Thursday (19/01/2017) morning the French minister of Culture Audrey Azoulay as well as the French minister of Labour Myriam El Khomri to put pressure on…

This article signed by the Vice President of the EFJ Nadezda Azhgikhina was initially published in The Nation weekly magazine in the United States. It is reprinted here with the author’s permission. It’s Not Too Late for an Honest Russian-American Dialogue https://t.co/v9jk5xk7gM — The Nation (@thenation) January 17, 2017 During Russia’s extended Christmas holidays, in a town near Moscow, an unemployed man stabbed his potential employer for political reasons during a friendly meal. The employer, who owns a gas station, said that Russians live poorly because of low productivity—that is, a US worker has to work 30 minutes to earn…