A number of journalists reporting about alleged funding from Hungary of media close to the right-wing Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) has been facing attacks and threats to their life. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined the Slovene Association of Journalists (DNS) in condemning in the strongest terms the “intensive attacks” and calling on the authorities to guarantee a safe environment for journalists. The association has informed about repetitive attempts of discrediting journalists, smear campaigns, death threats, offensive messages on social media, on and offline harassment. The journalists’ association was itself targeted and claimed this wave of attacks is aimed…

March 1st marks a new chapter in the support for journalists under threat – it is the start of the Europe-wide rapid response mechanism (RRM) for violations of press and media freedom. The RRM is conducted by a consortium led by the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom in Leipzig (ECPMF). The Mechanism is designed to mitigate the consequences of the recently observed deterioration of press and media freedom in certain EU Member States and Candidate Countries. The consortium consists of the ECPMF, ARTICLE 19, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), Free Press Unlimited (FPU), the Institute for Applied…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) welcomes the adoption of the biggest collective agreement in Finland with Finnmedia, the body that represents the media industry in Finland, negotiated by the Union of Journalists in Finland (UJF). It will cover print newspapers, magazines, all web services and news agencies. The agreement is valid until 31 May 2022. The biggest achievement of the agreement is a pay rise, especially on the lower wages, along with the removal of the extra hours and the restoration of the Christmas holiday break. In addition, the extra hours will be compensated with paid training, a point…

Two columnists of the daily newspaper Yeniçağ, had their phones, Twitter and Gmail accounts hacked after writing an article about the death of Turkish soldiers in Libya. The European and International Federation of Journalists (EFJ/IFJ) and their affiliate DİSK Basın İş condemn the hacking of journalists’ working tools which is a blatant attack on press freedom. On Sunday, February 23, the daily newspaper Yeniçağ announced in a statement that two of its journalists, Batuhan Çolak and Murat Ağırel, fell victim to a cyber attack after publishing an article naming two Turkish soldiers killed in Libya. On Saturday (February 22), President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said in a statement that…

Lauren Moss, BBC’s South East political editor, was attacked by a member of the public moments before going live on air, on 19 February. The news reporter said on Twitter that she was preparing to broadcast from Brighton (England) when a man threw a cup of hot chocolate over her and used abusive language against the BBC. Someone may not approve of my work or who I work for but I am a journalist just doing my job. Anti-media feeling like this is very concerning for anyone in the industry. — Lauren Moss (@LaurenM0ss) February 19, 2020 Lauren Moss and…

Radiotelevisión Española (RTVE), the Spanish public broadcaster, has appointed the journalist, FSC-CCOO affiliate and member of the EFJ Broadcasting Expert Group (BREG), Carolina Pecharromán as the new Equality Editor of TVE, replacing the recently deceased Alicia Gómez Montano. She will start her new position on the 1st of March. Pecharromán‘s mission will be to guarantee equality between men and women in both content and presence on public television and radio, to launch initiatives that will help eliminate malpractices that may occur on RTVE, and to close the existing gender gap in the Spanish public service media. “It is our responsibility…

UPDATE (26.02.2020): The perpetrator has been sentenced on Tuesday 25 February 2020 during an immediate appearance procedure in Arrecife to a fine of 2,410 euros. A restraining order has also been issued for 16 months banning him from approaching the journalist at a distance of less than 300 meters. The man admitted the facts. He has been accused of the crime of sexual abuse and of the slight crime of injury. He must pay compensation for civil liability. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined its Spanish affiliate FAPE and its member the Asociación de la Prensa de Tenerife (APT)…

Collective bargaining is decreasing considerably in the European Union since 2000. According to the latest figures from the University of Amsterdam, at least 3.3 million workers stoped benefiting from a collective bargaining agreement compared to the beginning of the century. Its coverage has decreased in 22 of the EU’s 27 member states -an average of a 20%-, with the biggest fall registered in Romania (100% to 23%), Greece (100% to 25%) and Bulgaria (56% to 23%). This also leads to a huge disparity across Europe, with just 7% of workers benefiting from collective bargaining in Lithuania compared to 98% in Austria.…

Article originally published on journo.com Google should reconsider its decision to fund a “partisan” and “manipulative” Turkish media group  through its news innovation challenge, the Journalists’ Union of Turkey (TGS) has said yesterday in an open letter. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has backed the call saying that “Google should stop funding unethical media organisations that do not respect the principles of ethical journalism and the worker rights of journalists”. The Google News Initiative (GNI) announced the Demiroren Media Group as the only Turkish applicant selected to be funded through GNI Innovation Challenges, stirring an outcry among Turkey’s embattled journalists…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) welcomes the digital transformation’s working plan of the European Commission for the next five years unveiled in the report Shaping Europe’s Digital Future, published on 19 February. The European data strategy and the policy options to ensure the human-centric development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) are the first steps towards achieving these goals.  “Today we are presenting our ambition to shape Europe’s digital future. It covers everything from cybersecurity to critical infrastructures, digital education to skills, democracy to media”, said Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The Commission’s ambition in fostering a Digital Education Action Plan that…

“Was not competition law meant to “control” the big and powerful?” asked Professor Nicola Countouris, University College London, in the opening keynote address on “Re-thinking the competition law/labour law interaction: promoting a fairer labour market, in Dublin last week. The final conference on “Organising and bargaining for atypical workers” organised by the International Actors Federation (FIA) in cooperation with the EFJ, FIM (Musicians) and UNI-MEI (other media workers) brought together over 90 trade union leaders from the Arts, media and entertainment sector. Together with labour- and competition academics, the European Commission, the OECD and ILO representatives, the federations discussed how…

From 30 March 30 to 1 April, the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Fondation Euractiv, in partnership with the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and WAN-IFRA, will organise in Brussels the Stars4Media Lab. The event, part of the EU exchange programme for media professionals, aims to provide applicants with more information about Stars4Media, create the opportunity to network, and offer specific training and insights from academics, high-level media experts, and media practitioners.  Who can participate?  Stars4Media participants who have already applied and been pre-selected for the programme Stars4Media participants who have applied but are still looking for a media partner Interested young…

On April 2018 the European Commission presented a proposal to enhance cross-border gathering of electronic evidence: a Regulation on European Production and Preservation Orders for electronic evidence in criminal matters. It would allow Member States to request the production or preservation of electronic data stored (such as emails, text or messages in apps, as well as information to identify a perpetrator as a first step) in a different Member State via production and/or preservation orders needed for investigation and prosecution of crimes covered by the Regulation. The European Commission proposed on 5 February 2019 to start international negotiations on cross-border access…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) launched on 4 February 2020 in the European Parliament its new publication on the transposition of the EU whistleblower directive. The event was co-organised by Free Press Unlimited (FPU), Whistleblowing International Network (WIN) and hosted by MEP Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield (Greens/EFA). The author, International whistleblower lawyer Mary Inman, highlighted concrete recommendations on key articles. Entitled “Implementing the new Whistleblower directive: a transposition guide for journalists“, it aims to provide journalists’ organisations with information on how the directive may affect their profession and highlights areas where further outreach efforts are needed at the national level. In…

Today, the International Press Institute (IPI), the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), the Journalists Union of Turkey (TGS), Reporters without Borders (RSF) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), called for an immediate end to the ban on public advertising on the two independent newspapers Evrensel and BirGün. Both newspapers are part of a shrinking club of media that have stubbornly resisted pressure to curb their independent journalism and readiness to criticize the authorities. Since September they have been subjected to indefinite bans imposed by BIK (Basin Ilan Kurumu), the agency responsible for the distribution of the state advertising budget.…

NEW DEADLINE TO APPLY: 20 MAY Application form Are you a young media professional eager to gain skills, boost your career, test your ideas, and expand your network? Stars4Media is an exchange and training programme for young media professionals (“rising stars”) between cooperating media organisations, to accelerate media innovation and cross-border coverage in Europe.  Stars4Media will encourage innovation through skill-building activities between paired media organisations to test ideas, produce contents and develop initiatives around 4 strategic themes.  Who are we looking for ? Participants of this project will be young working media professionals (“rising stars”) with 2-10 years of media…