The Finnish public broadcasting company Yle has announced on Monday 3 November about the imminent plan to reduce at least 185 permanent jobs as part of its cost-cutting measures. Following the announcement, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) Initiates has sent a letter to CEO, Mr Lauri Kivinen, and the management team of Yle, calling on them to engage in dialogue with the journalists’ union, Suomen Journalistiliitto. According to Yle, the cost-cutting measures were introduced as a result of a funding shortfall. Earlier this year, the Finnish Parliament has decided to freeze an inflation-related increase on the so-called Yle tax…

The 3rd High Criminal Court in Istanbul has today (05/11/2014) proceed to the hearing of the KCK Press trial where 46 journalists and media workers are being prosecuted for being a member or doing propaganda work on behalf of an illegal terrorist organisation. The European Federation of Journalists’ (EFJ) Project Officer Mehmet Koksal, the International Publishers Association (IPA)’s Director José Borghino and the head of Istanbul Branch of the Journalists Union of Turkey (TGS) Gökhan Durmus have attended the hearing in solidarity with the accused journalists. During the court hearing, the defendants lawyers argued about the unconstitutionalilty of the current…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has called on Prime Minister Viktor Orban to abandon his “anti-democratic plan” to tax internet use and to start listening to his people and understand the reality of the developments in the media. “It is very unwise and unrealistic of Orban’s government to think that the internet tax is of any relevance in today’s digital age,” said Mogens Blicher Bjerrregård, EFJ President. “This is evident from the tens of thousands protesters who showed up on Tuesday night’s protest.” According to the organiser of the protest, following the first rally on Sunday 26 October, the…

It is essential that international organizations not only have press freedom as key issues, but also pursues effectively the abuses that are taking place and put pressure on the authorities to correct those attacks on press freedom, writes Mogens Blicher Bjerregaard, President of the Danish Union of Journalists and EFJ President. By Mogens Blicher Bjerrregård I’m just back from Macedonia where I had the opportunity to visit a journalist whose life is in ruins because he does not want to disclose his sources. The European Federation of Journalists sent a letter to the Macedonian Ambassador to the European Union. Similar…

The EFJ has been invited to contribute to the last South-east Europe Media Forum (SEEMF) 2014 held on 16-18 October 2014 in Skopje. The event was organized by the South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), the Media Program South East Europe of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) and the Central European Initiative (CEI) in partnership with UNESCO, the European Commission, International Academy – International Media Center (IA-IMC) and South East and Central Europe PR Organisation (SECEPRO) and in cooperation with the South East European Network for the Professionalization of Media (SEENPM), Macedonian Institute for Media, Association of Journalists of Macedonia (AJM/ZNM), the…

For the 7th time, the EFJ will be marking 5 November as a day to “Stand Up For Journalism”, and we are asking our affiliates across Europe to join in the campaign. On the day or during the week of the 5 November, journalists across Europe and around the world come together in solidarity to spotlight some of the major challenges they face.  Find out more about this campaign HERE.