The #SilenceHate project kicked-off more than a year and a half ago, in April 2018, with a five-day ‘Media Camp’ in London. Thirteen young journalists were trained in the intricacies of how hate speech is used to target migrants, and what journalists can do to counter it. They went back to their home countries (Belgium, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Poland and United Kingdom) with the objective to report and produced the stories that they pitched. Here are the journalists’ productions offering different formats such as photography, podcasts, videos, features, long form, and having a creative and innovative perspective of the migration…

Along with 21 other organisations, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) co-signed an open letter sent to the new Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Marija Pejčinović Burić, who is starting her five-year term of office on 18 September 2019. Dear Secretary-General, On behalf of the undersigned organisations, we warmly congratulate you on your appointment as the new Secretary-General of the Council of Europe. We are motivated by our experience and understanding of the worsening of the environment for journalists and free expression across Europe to ask you to make sure that your commitment to democracy, the rule of…

Together with the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) believes that the distribution of European Commission portfolios is a hopeful sign that the European Union can deliver social progress over the next five years. The EFJ particularly welcomes the fact that media pluralism is mentioned as one of the EU Commission’s priorities. European Commission President-elect Ursula von der Leyen presented on Tuesday the proposed new team of Commissioners, including some hopeful developments. As the ETUC has stated, Commissioners Nicolas Schmidt (Luxembourg) and Paolo Gentiloni (Italy), proposed for the jobs and economy portfolios, were both strong…

EFJ and the undersigned organisations call on the Montenegrin authorities to acquit investigative journalist Jovo Martinović, convicted for marijuana smuggling and criminal association and sentenced to 18 months in prison despite overwhelming evidence that his only links with organised crime were those of a reporter. A specialist in covering organised crime for such leading international media as The Economist, Financial Times, NPR, BBC and a winner of the 2018 Peter Mackler Award for Courageous and Ethical Journalism, Jovo Martinović was convicted to a 18-month prison sentence by the Montenegro high court on January 15, 2019 on charges of drug trafficking…

UPDATE 04/11/2020 – On 3 November 2020, the Milan Court of Appeal ruled to fully acquit Vitaliy Markiv, overturning his conviction to 24 years for complicity in murder of Italian photographer Andrea Rocchelli and Andrei Mironov. The Court ruled for Markiv’s immediate release. —————————– An Italian court sentenced on Friday 12 July Vitaly Markiv, a Ukrainian former national guard commander, to 24 years in prison for the murder of photographer Andrea Rocchelli and his translator Andrei Mironov, in the early days of the conflict in eastern Ukraine in 2014. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) welcomes the court’s decision, putting…

Silence Hate is a collective project of COSPE, EFJ,  Media Diversity Institute (MDI), Amnesty International Italy, Amnesty International Poland, KARPOS, Zaffiria, and Cyprus Community Media Centre (CCMC). The project seeks to combat and prevent online hate speech against migrants and refugees by developing new and creative counter-narratives. The main aims of the project are: To exchange best practices among journalists, media activists and bloggers, improving their capacity to create counter-narratives on migration issues; To provide teachers, educators, activists and young people with tools of analysis and operational tools to recognize and combat online hate speech; To raise awareness of young people and the general public about the risks of…

On May 29th, Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Matteo Salvini published a video on Facebook in which he threatened the journalist Roberto Saviano with the withdrawal of his police protection from mafia. Saviano has been under constant police protection since 2006, after he published the book “Gommora”, denouncing the practices of the Camorra, the Neapolitan mafia. In the video, Matteo Salvini sends a kiss to the camera, saying “A kiss to Saviano. I’m working on a revision of the criteria for the escorts that every day in Italy commit more than two thousand law enforcement workers.”.…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) elected its new Steering Committee on Friday 10 May 2019, during its General Meeting taking place in Tallinn, Estonia. More than 90 participants including delegates and observers from 49 EFJ member organisations in 36 countries attended the General Meeting to elect the next Steering Committee members and to adopt the EFJ working programme for the next three years (2020-2022). The EFJ Steering Committee is now composed of 4 women and 5 men: Mogens BLICHER BJERREGÅRD, DJ, Denmark (President) Marta BARCENILLA, FSC-CCOO, Spain (Vice-President) Marijana CAMOVIC, TUMM, Montenegro Anna DEL FREO, FNSI, Italy Yannis KOTSIFOS,…

  The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) will hold its General Meeting on 9 – 10 April and elect its upcoming Steering Committee for 2019-2021. The candidates are: PRESIDENT Mogens BLICHER BJERREGARD Danish Journalists’ Union (DJ), Denmark View candidate profile and statement         Anna DEL FREO Italian National Press Federation (FNSI), Italy View candidate profile and statement     VICE-PRESIDENT   Marta BARCENILLA FSC-CCOO, Spain View candidate profile and statement             Luis MENENDEZ FAPE, Spain View candidate profile and statement     STEERING COMMITTEE MEMBERS Pablo AIQUEL  SNJ-CGT, France View candidate profile…

  The EFJ together with its Austrian and German members GPA-djp and Deutscher Journalisten-Verband (DJV) declare their solidarity with the presenter of the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) Armin Wolf, who has been under massive hostility from politicians and supporters of the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) for days. The FPÖ is a member of the Austrian government. The trigger was a live interview on ORF 2 on 23 April with FPÖ Secretary General Harald Vilimsky. He was invited as a candidate to the european parliament elections. Wolf compared a cartoon on a FPÖ election poster to one showing a…

After lawyer and civil rights activist Zuzana Čaputová was elected as Slovakia’s first female president on 30 March 2019, EFJ and several freedom of expression organisations joined the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) to send her a letter, drawing attention to the press and media freedom situation in the country.     To: Ms Zuzana Čaputová 2 April 2019 Dear President-elect Čaputová, Congratulations for winning the presidential election in Slovakia on 30 March 2019.  Your victory marks a strong demand of the Slovak people for change, for true democracy under the rule of law – one year…

In an open letter to the European Council, Commission and Parliament, five well-known European whistleblowers speak out for changing the directive and removing barriers for safe reporting. This letter is published as the negotiations between the European institutions are entering the final stretch. The European Council, Commission and Parliament have started the trilogue phase since the end of January and one main point of discord remains: what procedure whistleblowers should follow to be granted protection against retaliation? The draft directive indicates three reporting channels: internal within the company, external to an authority, and public including through the press. In the…

Mapping Media Freedom’s latest report aims to raise awareness among international and national decision-makers who seem to ignore how dire the situation really is across Europe. The MMF project managed by Index on Censorship, in partnership with the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), monitors the threats, violations and limitations faced by investigative reporters in 43 countries — throughout European Union member states, candidates for entry and neighbouring countries.  Since 2014, 283 attacks were reported against investigative journalists. Mapping Media Freedom’s numbers reflect only what has been reported to the platform. Journalists tend to under-report incidents they consider minor, commonplace or part…

Washington Post – 4 Media Organizations Ask Albania to Drop Online Media Laws (26.12.18) New York Times – 4 Media Organizations Ask Albania to Drop Online Media Laws (26.12.18) Europe1 – “Gilets jaunes” : les syndicats de journalistes dénoncent des “dérapages” de la police (12.12.18) L’OBS – Les syndicats de journalistes dénoncent des “dérapages inadmissibles” de la police (10.12.18) Le Monde – « Gilets jaunes » : des « dérapages inadmissibles » de la police envers des journalistes samedi (10.12.18) RTBF – Au Bout du Jour – Séquence DDH: Ricardo Gutiérrez (audio) (05.12.2018) RTBF – J’peux pas, j’ai climat”: les journalistes, des manifestants comme les autres? (4.12.2018) Diario de Noticias…

On 7 January 2019, Federico Marconi and Paolo Marchetti, an Italian journalist and a photographer both working for the Italian weekly magazine Espresso, have been attacked by members of two neo-fascist groups, Avanguardia Nazionale and Forza Nuova. The two journalists were near the Verano monumental cemetery in Rome to cover the event organised by Avanguardia Nazionale in memory of the Acca Larentia killings, in 1978. A group of neo-fascists approached Marchetti and took his camera’s memory card. Other militants then surrounded the journalist Federico Marconi and began to hit him with kicks and slaps. The boss of Forza Nuova together…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) strongly calls for release of imprisoned journalists in Europe. Following the reports from the EFJ national affiliates, 177 journalists will spend New Year’s Eve in prison in Europe: 159 in Turkey; 11 in Azerbaijan; 5 in Russia; 2 in Ukraine. Read the full list, here. In Turkey, a significant number of journalists continued to be detained on charges related to alleged terrorism, while others were convicted in 2018 to heavy imprisonment sentences, including life sentences. No progress has been recorded concerning journalists currently serving behind bars life-imprisonment sentences or very long imprisonment sentences. Another trend consists of…