Journalists at Greece’s Alpha 989 radio station are to meet to consider action following the “unfair, illegal and abusive” dismissal of their union representative. The International and European Federations of Journalists have pledged their support to Greek affiliate JUADN following the sacking of Georgia Ioannidou. The union had given the radio station’s board a deadline to reinstate Georgia, who is also a board member of JUADN, but the company failed to act. In a statement the union said: “Our colleague has been targeted for being a union representative and her persistence in taking up issues with the personnel department such…

A prominent journalist specialising in relations between Russia and Ukraine, Pavel Sheremet, has been murdered today by a car bomb in Kiev. The International Federation of Journalists and European Federation of Journalists, have joined affiliates in Ukraine and Russia, in condemning the killing. Pavel Sheremet, who worked for the Ukrainskaya Pravda newspaper and radio Vesti died when the car he was driving exploded shortly after it started, according to the Ukrainian Prosecutor’s Office. He was heading to the radio’s office to host his morning show. Some reports claim the car belonged to his employer, Alyona Pritula, the founder and chief editor of…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined its French affiliates, the Syndicat national des journalistes (SNJ) and the Syndicat national des journalistes-CGT (SNJ-CGT), to denounce the last-minute amendment voted on Monday 18 July by the National Assembly, to restrict journalists’ protection of sources, only a few days following the Nice attack. Submitted a few hours before the new reading of the proposal to strengthen the freedom, independence and pluralism of the media, the amendment foresees to restrict the protection of journalists’ sources when they violate the “secret of national defence” and “the fundamental interests of the Nation.” This extension is considered “indispensable” because of…

Attacks targeting the media in Turkey have led the International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ/EFJ) to alert the Council of Europe about a series of new press freedom violations. The federations are calling on the International and European communities to take concrete steps against the Turkish government’s assaults on fundamental human rights that are contrary to international and European conventions. Mustafa Cambaz, a photojournalist for the Turkish Daily Yeni Safak was killed during the attempted coup in Turkey on 15 July. In the early hours of Saturday 16 July, Turkish soldiers who attempted to overthrow the government seized control…

The EFJ newsletter, EFJ Focus, is available in English, French and German.   EDITORIAL Dialogue with publishers I was invited by the European Magazine Media Association to attend a conference about the evolution of media and threats to press freedom on 30 June in Wroclaw, Poland. Following the conference, I also held several informal meetings with other publishers in the media and engaged in dialogue on issues of common interests.We share some common interests with publishers such as the increasing threats to press freedom while we have our differences such as collective bargaining. But we all face big challenges and it requires us to work together whenever possible. Such as…

Mustafa Cambaz, photojournalist for the Turkish daily Yeni Safak was killed by soldiers during the attempt coup in Turkey, last night, in the Cengelkoy neighborhood of Istanbul. Soldiers took control of the state broadcaster TRT, the private broadcasters CNN-Turk and Kanal D, and the daily newspaper Hurriyet. In the Ankara studios of TRT, news anchor Tijen Karas was forced to read a statement at gunpoint. Several journalists were attacked during the clashes. In Istanbul, civilians protesting the coup beat Selçuk Şamiloğlu, a photojournalist for Hurriyet and the Associated Press. Following the attempted coup, the Information Technologies and Communications Authority (BTK, the…