The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) will join a group media partners and NGOs to launch the World Press Freedom Day events in Brussels on 3 May at the Centre for Fine Art. The day will start with a keynote from Commissioner Günther Oettinger from the European Commission emphasizing that Europe is a strong supporter for freedom of speech. Among a series of activities and debates, the EFJ will gather a panel of women journalists who will share their views on the recent evolution in Turkey in terms of freedom of the press and their role as journalists. A second debate will focus on a…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) was invited by the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists &Democrats in the European Parliament to a seminar on Diversity in Media and Culture Versus Convergence  on Thursday 7 of April. Ms Maria Joao Rodrigues, S&D Vice President and the chair of the Culture Committee Silvia Costa introduced the seminar highlighting the group’s priorities for pluralism, culture, media and communication as major sources of development and as a way to integrate European citizens within the European public sphere. Dr Elda Brogi from the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom (CMPF) exposed the…

Speech by Mogens Blicher Bjerregård (EFJ President) The European Partnership countries in former Soviet states must realize that they in reality have to replace their state media by public service media independent from government Independency of media in the so-called partnership countries from Caucasus to Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova was on the agenda 11th April 2016 at a conference set up by the Council of Europe, hosted by UK Parliament at Portcullis House. I was on the speakers list and should deliver a speech about public broadcast. I emphasized and repeated what a previous panelist has said, that it is important to…

Swiss Employment Law is designed liberally and the protection of employees is quite weak compared to other countries. In Switzerland, due to the different circumstances in each language area, the working conditions in the media industry vary from one area to another. While a Collective Agreement for journalists does exist in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, journalists in the German- and Italian-speaking parts have been working without one since 2004 and are therefore constantly facing the consequences of the lack of protection. However, there is reason to hope that this long lasting state of affairs may come to an end…

Despite the travel difficulties to Brussels following the attacks of 22 March 2016, members of the Labour Rights Expert Group (LAREG) of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) continued their meeting in Brussels to discuss the evolution of labour conditions for journalists and media workers in Europe. Thanks to a new EFJ project entitled Building Trust in media in South East Europe and Turkey financially supported by UNESCO and the EU, the LAREG meeting provided a unique opportunity to exchange views between EU and non-EU participants from South Eastern Europe of the EFJ members and discuss recent developments in the media sector…

The European Federation of Journalists together with its affiliate in Croatia, the Croatian Journalists’ Association (CJA) condemns the verbal and physical attack on Ante Tomić, well-known journalist and writer, in the very center of Split. CJA congratulated the police for its quick response arresting two attackers. Meanwhile, however, the Culture Ministry responded with a quite unusual and disgraceful statement in which it seemed to give legitimacy to the attackers, report Croatian media on April 3, 2016. The Ministry sent this official statement: “The Ministry of Culture condemns physical violence and attacks on all citizens. At the same time, this case…