On 15 September, Belarusian journalist Andrei Mialeshka was denied entry to Georgia, where he has lived for the past three years after facing political persecution in Belarus. On 17 September, Armenian journalist Arsen Kharatyan, editor-in-chief of an independent non-profit bilingual Georgian-Armenia media platform Aliq Media based in Tbilisi, was also denied entry to Georgia. The International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) condemn the denial of entry of both journalists and call on the Georgian authorities to uphold freedom of access for all journalists. Andrei Mialeshka was returning from Poland to Georgia with his daughter and was barred from entering…

From 23 to 24 September 2024, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) will be hosting a workshop entitled “Collective bargaining in though times” at the TGS Academy in Istanbul, as part of the Stand up for Journalism (SUJ) project. The workshop will address the different challenges related to collective bargaining, including the topics surrounding the digital age, with insightful speakers from all around Europe. This workshop is the first in a series of five 5 thematic, capacity-building workshops. The others will focus on online harassement and better protection of journalists, equal rights for freelancers, well-being and burnout in journalism and…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) welcomes the warning letter sent this week by European Commission Vice-President Vera Jourova to the Slovak authorities over the reform and political capture of the Slovak public broadcaster RTVS. The EFJ calls on the European Union to prepare infringement proceedings against Slovakia for non-compliance with Union law. On 30 June 2024, the Slovak President Peter Pellegrini enacted the new Law on Slovak Television and Radio, which entered into force on 1 July. Radio and Television Slovakia (RTVS) is changing to Slovak Television and Radio (STVR). In her letter to Slovak Culture Minister Martina Šimkovičová,…

With the adoption of the European minimum wage directive in 2022, all European countries are obliged to promote collective bargaining. On 23-24 September, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) will organise a workshop on collective bargaining in Istanbul as part of its Stand Up for Journalism (SUJ) project. The agenda of the workshop is availablehere. The European Union decided in 2022 to impose on its Member States a goal of 80% of collective bargaining coverage. The issue is that many of these countries still have a long way to go before they reach that percentage. For those who do not…

Negotiations between media companies Bauer Publishing House Poland and AKPA Agency, and union representatives from Inicjatywa Pracownicza (“Workers’ Initiative”) over pay rises and decent working conditions remain uncertain. The International and the European Federations of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) join its affiliate the German Journalists Union (dju) in ver.di in urging the management of the media group to address the union’s specific demands and ensure that the fundamental rights of the workers enshrined in Polish law are respected. Media companies Bauer Publishing House Poland and AKPA Agency, which is part of De Bauer Media Group Poland, a German international media group based…

The partners from the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) consortium today publish the latest edition of its Monitoring Report which documents and analyses all press freedom violations recorded on its platform Mapping Media Freedom in European Member States and candidate countries from January to June 2024. The report was produced by the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), and the International Press Institute (IPI). The latest Monitoring Report explores in detail the 756 media freedom violations recorded by the MFRR partners in the first half of 2024. These violations affected 1,212 media-related…