Shortly after the adoption by the European Parliament of the trade secrets directive, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has started to campaign for a EU legislation to protect whistleblowers. The EFJ met with the Transparency and Democracy Campaigner of The Greens/ European Free Alliance in the European Parliament, Pamela Bartlett Quintanilla to discuss a draft proposal on “Whistleblower protection in the public and private sector in the EU”. This draft proposed on 4 May by the Greens/ European Free Alliance guarantees protection for workers, trainees and apprentices working in all sectors of activity who disclose information concerning harms or threat to the public…

The Creators Conference 2016 concluded on Tuesday 31 after a productive day of panels, interviews and speeches by prominent artists, experts and policy makers discussing the current issues faced by the European creators’ community and the cultural and creative industries. The Authors’ Group welcomed European Commission Vice-President Andrus Ansip in charge of the Digital Single Market for a keynote speech in which the Commissioner confirmed the “need to look closer at the conditions for remunerating creators and getting a fair share of the value generated”. Vice-President Ansip also stressed the “follow the money approach” and “widening access to content” for consumers…

The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has written to the European Commission demanding that it : • rejects the arguments against the revision of the posting of workers directive in the ‘yellow card’ from some Member States; • allows a democratic debate without delay on the existing proposal through the normal EU legislative procedure with governments and the European Parliament. The ETUC letter accuses the Member States involved of neglecting their own workers. “All trade unions in Europe, including in countries where parliaments have supported the yellow card procedure, strongly support revision of the Posting of Workers Directive,” said Luca Visentini,…

The International and European Federations of Journalists strongly condemn the draft amendment to the Italian Penal Code which will increase the criminal penalties for those accused of defamation against members of the political class, the judiciary or public administration. The EFJ and its Italian member, FNSI, call on Italian authorities to decriminalize defamation. The EFJ and IFJ have submitted today an alert on the issue on the Council of Europe of the Platform for the Protection of Journalism. A committee of the Italian Senate voted unanimously on 3 May 2016, a draft amendment to the Penal Code which will increase the criminal…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) have successfully organised a 3-day training (25-27 May) in Leuven (Belgium) on Cybersecurity for journalists : Secure, protect, investigate. This was the second edition of a course organized 2015 along four days about Cybersecurity for journalists and with the same practical approach. The course aimed to facilitate technical skills to journalists helping them to protect themselves, their work and their sources. 13 journalists and / or unionists coming from 11 countries took part to the training, with an important participation of participants coming from countries of the…

The Norwegian Freelance Journalist Union (NJ Frilans) hosted the Nordic Freelance Seminar, which is held once a year,  in Ilsetra, Norway on 20-22 May. The over 100 participants were freelance journalists from EFJ affiliates in Finland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. The aim of the seminar was  networking and sharing experience, discussing recent trends both regarding ever more precarious working conditions for freelances and new technological tools to advance storytelling and journalism by getting closer to the audience. Frank Aarebrot, professor of comparative politics at the University of Bergen in his opening speech adviced the community to demand public funding to…