This year’s edition of the Silver Rose Awards took four highly prevailing political choices: Among the winners is the Journalists Union of Turkey (Türkiye Gazeteciler Sendikasi, TGS), which supports jailed journalists and promotes solidarity between journalists in Turkey and abroad. TGS President Uğur Güç came to Brussels to receive the prize at the European Parliament. “It’s really a great honor for all of us in Turkey to receive this prize from SOLIDAR network and especially at the European Parliament in Brussels given the challenges we are facing to defend our freedoms and to fight for our rights against an oppressive system…

EFJ Steering Committee member Yannis Kotsifos participated on behalf of the EFJ in the final regional conference of the SEE Media Observatory, in Novi Sad (Serbia), on  June 13. A thorough analysis of factors determining the involvement of editors in achieving media integrity throughout the countries of SE Europe, along with other important findings of multiple research studies  were presented. “Why media in the region don’t serve democracy?” was the main question throughout this 4 years project, with 10 countries involved, said   Brankica Petković, Peace Institute, Ljubljana, SEE Media Observatory project Coordinator, in the opening session of the conference “Alternatives: Media…

The European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) organised on 9 June a debate about The truth about refugees – crisis, cover-up and the impact on media freedom at the Press Club in Brussels. The refugee issue is currently putting media under pressure. On the one hand, biased reporting – both for and against refugees – has led to increase distrust in the media. Jane Whyatt, Project Manager of the ECPMF, introduced the debate with examples from Eastern Germany, where right-wing populist movements and left-wing extremists movements accuse the mainstream media of lying and biased reporting. “We are trying…

The European Union must shape the digitalisation of Europe’s economy and society much more actively, with policy initiatives to avoid massive job losses and ensure the creation of quality jobs and decent working conditions, said the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). attending @etuc_ces ExCom, Luca Visentini (ETUC GS) setting the agenda pic.twitter.com/ERPtmvfuW9 — EFJ (@EFJEUROPE) June 8, 2016 A resolution, adopted by national and European trade union leaders gathered in Brussels today, calls for A Directive on privacy at work; An EU Framework on crowd-working to maintain minimum pay rates, working time, social protection and fair taxation; A big increase…

Delegates of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) meeting at the 29th World Congress in Angers elected Philippe Leruth, member of the Belgian Association Générale des Journalistes Professionnels de Belgique (AGJPB) as president of their organization on 9 June 2016. Journalist at the daily L’Avenir, Philippe Leruth was vice-president of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), the European organisation of the IFJ, from 2004 to 2013, and AGJPB president from 1995 to 2005. He is taking over from departing British President, Jim Boumelha, who headed the IFJ from 2007 to 2016. “The first challenge is to restore IFJ unity” said the newly elected…

The EFJ newsletter, EFJ Focus, is available in English, in French and in German.   EDITORIAL Towards stronger unions Common values and divided opinions were shared during the EFJ General Meeting in Sarajevo. What stood out in the meeting and bound us together was our common values to defend journalists’ rights, independent journalism and the commitment to build stronger unions.I thank for support of colleagues who entrusted me to be the EFJ president for the next three years. And I look forwards to the next three years. Together with the newly elected Steering Committee,  we will make a strong team to deliver more results and services to…