The Federazione Nazionale Stampa Italiana (FNSI) and the Order of Journalists today announced that they are taking legal action with the Rome public prosecutor’s office to seek clarification regarding the surveillance of an Italian journalist. The European and International Federations of Journalists (EFJ-IFJ) support this initiative and urge the Italian government to shed full light on this new spying scandal. During a press conference on 19 February in Rome, the FNSI and the Order of Journalists strongly condemned the recent revelation of surveillance against at least one Italian investigative journalist. The revelation concerns Fanpage editor-in-chief Francesco Cancellato, whose WhatsApp was…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) today joins partner organisations of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) in urging Italian authorities to shed full light on the recent surveillance of an editor-in-chief in Italy and others using Graphite spyware technology developed by Israeli firm Paragon Solutions. Our organisations are alarmed by the latest case of a journalist within the European Union having their secure communications and sources compromised using advanced spyware technologies, representing yet another serious attack on press freedom. In the wake of recent revelations, we also urge other governments in Europe to launch investigations into targeted surveillance against any…

Brussels, 17 February 2025 Dear Executive Vice-President Virkkunen, Dear Commissioner Micallef, The AI Office is currently tasked with the critical responsibility of successfully finalising the ‘General-Purpose AI Code of Practice’ by May 2025. As representative organisations of authors and performers from all disciplines, in their capacity as creative workers and rightsholders (copyright and related rights), we write to you to express our concerns about the second draft of this Code of Practice, which was recently published and discussed. As it currently stands, it does not show sufficient progress and fails to take into account the comments expressed by our organisations.…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins the undersigned media freedom and journalists’ organisations in condemning the legal threats issued by the Moscow-based law firm ELWI on behalf of the Russian insurance company Ingosstrakh against the Danish investigative media outlet Danwatch. These actions represent an attempt to intimidate and silence independent journalism, and we stand in full solidarity with Danwatch and its journalists in the face of these threats. Between December 2024 and January 2025, Danwatch received four strongly worded legal letters from ELWI, representing their client Ingosstrakh, a major Russian insurance company, which has previously been sanctioned by the…

The European Commission has released a draft template for the summary of training data designed to support the implementation by AI model operators of the transparency obligations from the AI Act. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) calls on the EU Commission’s AI Office not to be influenced by the Big Tech industry when formulating these obligations and urges to protect the legitimate interests of authors. In order to implement the transparency requirements of the AI Act for providers of generative AI models, the AI Office is currently working on so-called templates. These templates will set the legally binding framework…

To mark the third anniversary of the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), in collaboration with the Center of Photojournalism Géopolis, invites you to the screening of the Oscar-winning documentary “20 Days in Mariupol”. The screening will take place on 25 February 2025 at 19.30 in Brussels. Directed by Ukrainian filmmaker and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Mstyslav Chernov, the documentary offers a harrowing firsthand account of the early days of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Captured by Associated Press journalists trapped in the besieged city of Mariupol, the film provides undeniable evidence of Russian war crimes –…