On 17 September, Georgia’s Parliament adopted a legislative package entitled “Family Values and the Protection of Minors.” Among the amendments contrary to press freedom and freedom of expression, the legislation imposes censorship on media by banning broadcasters from freely reporting on LGBT+ issues. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) strongly condemns Georgia’s draft law, which aims to seriously endanger the non-discrimination rights of the LGBT+ community in Georgia by censoring broadcasters on topics of the utmost importance. The EFJ calls on the Georgian government to immediately reconsider such a repressive and discriminatory bill and instead uphold freedom of the press…

The undersigned international press freedom, journalists and human rights organizations strongly condemn Georgia’s recently adopted Family Values Bill. This legislation imposes censorship on media by banning broadcasters from freely reporting on LGBT+ issues. The Georgian government must stop its legal attacks on press freedom and freedom of expression.  On 17 September, Georgia’s Parliament adopted the Family Values Bill in its third reading, with 84 MPs voting in favour. The Bill is part of a legislative package titled “On Family Values and the Protection of Minors,” which proposes amendments to 18 existing laws, including the Law on Freedom of Speech and…

The Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) consortium expresses serious concern over the persistent spoofing of legitimate European media outlets, most recently as part of a Russian disinformation campaign called “Doppelgänger”. Over the past two years, this disinformation campaign, initially discovered in 2022, continued to weigh in the political debate with so-called cybersquatting practices, through which Russian sources leased internet domains that cloned legitimate media websites, in order to spread false narratives that were massively shared on social media. On 4 September, a total of 32 manipulative websites with domains leased from American companies were identified by the US Department of…

The EFJ is looking for a subcontractor to provide expertise as part of the implementation of the EFJ project entitled Stand Up for Journalism.  This programme is funded by the European Commission (DG Employment). The deadline for submission of bids is Friday 1 November 2024. Find more information here

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined its Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) partners in condemning the online intimidation of investigative journalists working for La Sexta TV by Daniel Esteve, CEO of the eviction company Desokupa. Esteve’s harassment and threats to reveal personal information put the journalists’ safety at great risk. We call on the Spanish authorities to take immediate action to protect them. The undersigned organizations are deeply concerned by the threats and intimidation targeting the investigative journalism team of Equipo de Investigación, a program on Spanish private TV channel La Sexta, by Daniel Esteve, CEO and owner of…

33 EFJ members, unionists and media owners met in Istanbul, Turkey, and showed great commitment to develop their own collective bargaining and membership recruitment tactics and strategies. The 1.5-day workshop was organised by the EFJ and the Turkish Union of Journalists (TGS), one of the partners of the Stand Up for Journalists (SUJ) project. The union has attracted new young members and has had successful collective agreements, despite the worsening situation for press freedomand journalists’ working conditions in Turkey.  Speaking at the opening session, TGS President Gökhan Durmuş shared the struggle of journalists fighting for media freedom and better working…