At the end of a three-day visit to Bulgaria, Nils Muižnieks, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, said today he was concerned at the insufficient transparency of media ownership and financing and lack of action against media concentration.This has reportedly resulted in a media landscape worryingly characterised by many outlets serving few interests. “Genuine media pluralism is the institutional guarantee for the fulfillment of the right to receive and impart information and the authorities must take steps to secure it”, said Nils Muižnieks. Referring to the recent imposition of high fines by the Bulgarian financial supervision authority on media reporting on companies’ financial…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has today received an official complaint drafted by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) which draws the attention to alarming developments in Serbia. According to the network, the Serbian Prime Minister, some media that support his administration and other high-ranking government officials are conducting unprecedented attacks against critical voices. After a series of investigations on issues of public interest, the Serbian authorities and pro-governmental media organisations started a public campaign against BIRN journalists labelling them as “EU mercenaries, spies and liars” or people working against Serbian national interests. “We are alarmed and particularly concerned by what appears to…

In the framework of the project “Rights and Jobs in Journalism”, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) together with the Danish Journalists’ Union will organise a two-day workshop on “Let’s organise, invest in youth and skills” on 11 – 12 May in Copenhagen, Denmark.   Agenda The workshop will discuss and offer practice tools and exchanges on the following themes: Job losses vs job growth: What is the trend in jobs and skills in journalism? Five steps to restore sustainable jobs in European media Recruitment strategies: How to reach out to the youth and new types of workers? Creating Europe’s…

The European Court of Human Rights ruled in favour of Azerbaijani journalist Uzeyir Eldar oglu Jafarov who was subject to extreme violence and the authority failed to bring justice to his case. Jafarov was critical about the Azerbaijani government’s security, the defense policies and the activities of various senior military officers. On 20 April 2007, he wrote an article on an military officer, accusing him of corruption. His chief editor tried for defamation. Following the trial, two men punched him when he left the office. Jafarov stayed in hospital for seven days following the attack. He suffered from a cranial…

A number of members of the US Congress have signed a joint letter urging the Secretary of State John Kerry to press the Turkish government to stop intimidating journalists and media in the country. In a letter to Kerry (Signatures and Letter), 89 members of Congress said that the Turkish government poses a threat to democracy because it “intimidates, arrests and smothers voices opposed to the governments”. Stressing that Turkey is a strategic ally to the US in the Middle East and a key member of NATO, congress members expressed hope to see the Turkish government “abandon this course of intimidation and…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) represented by the President, Mogens Blicher Bjerregård, will attend the third meeting of the Copyright Working Group of the European Parliament (EP) on 12 February in Strasbourg, to address the interest of journalists in the upcoming EU copyright reform. For the first time, representatives of authors including the EFJ are invited to address the issue in front of the group and other members of the parliament. Blicher Bjerregård said, “The importance of authors’ rights has not changed because of the emergence of new media platforms. Authors’ rights become ever more important in ensuring the…