Journalists’ organisations across Europe demonstrated against austerity on 1 May. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined the delegation of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) in Paris alongside the French unions. “Europe needs a new economic and social model that puts people and the planet before profit at any cost,” said Esther Lynch, the ETUC General Secretary. “That’s the future that European trade union members will be demonstrating for today. And that will be the objective of our discussions and decision at the ETUC’s congress later this month. The history of May Day tells us that real change is…

Following a visit to Belgrade on April 10 and 11 2023 to commemorate the murder anniversary of editor and publisher Slavko Ćuruvija, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins the undersigned international press freedom and journalists’ organisations in issuing a stark warning over the state of media freedom and journalists’ safety in Serbia. Ahead of World Press Freedom Day on May 3, our shared conclusion is that 24 years after the murder of Ćuruvija in 1999, poor conditions for the safety of journalists, the weak landscape for the rule of law, media capture and a festering climate of hostility towards critical reporting mean that the…

To mark World Press Freedom Day, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) organises a conference at Bozar on 2-3 May 2023, as part of its Safety4Journalists project. The 1.5 days final conference will highlight the good practices of safety in the media from unions, media employers, policy-makers and international experts. Experts will discuss the EFJ risk assessment tools to be launched on the day with a focus on what can be done by media managers, employers, journalist unions and associations, and national and international authorities to create a culture of health and safety at work in the media. Please find the…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) will hold its annual meeting in The Hague, Netherlands. Around 100 journalists and trade union representatives from 45 countries in Europe are expected to meet on 11-12 May 2023. The Hague was chosen as the host city of the upcoming congress of the EFJ, representing 320,000 journalists in Europe. Co-organised by the Dutch journalists’ union Nederlandse Vereniging van Journalisten (NVJ), the assembly will be held in Beeld en Geluid, the Sound & Vision Museum. “With its reputation as the home of international law and arbitration, The Hague is an appropriate venue to convene in times of…

One year ago, as Russian forces retreated from the outskirts of Kyiv in the first days of April, the world was shocked by the emerging images and testimonies of the atrocities suffered by the local civilian population during the month-long occupation of the region. In a few days, Bucha, the largest town in Kyiv’s immediate northwestern suburbs, became an international symbol of the war crimes committed as part of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Among the hundreds of civilian victims, Ukrainian journalists Roman Nezhyborets and Zoreslav Zamoysky were found dead, killed in conditions likely never to be fully determined. While the world discovered the…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and their affiliates in Russia, JMWU, and in the United States, NewsGuild-CWA, call on Russian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Wall Street Journal reporter and U.S. citizen Evan Gershkovich, detained on Thursday in Yekaterinburg. He could face up to 20 years in prison as the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) says he was “collecting classified information”. Gershkovich is the first reporter for a US news outlet to be arrested on espionage charges in Russia since the cold war. On 30 March, the FSB stated that it had…

The Council of Europe Platform to Promote the Protection of Journalism and the Safety of Journalists, with the European and International Federations of Journalists (EFJ/IFJ) and other partner organisations, launched in Brussels on 7 March the 2023 Annual Report: ‘War in Europe and the Fight for the Right to Report‘. The report discusses the impact of the war in Ukraine, and the need for robust and independent journalism. It highlights the need for Member States to harmonise their legislations, and the danger of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs), as well as the case of Belarus, impunity, detentions of journalists and…

On 7 March 2023, the Partner Organisations of the Platform to Promote the Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists, including the European and International Federations of Journalist (EFJ/IFJ), publish their 2023 annual report under the title “War in Europe and the fight for the right to report”. The report reveals a continued degradation of press freedom across the continent. Throughout 2022, the Platform documented 289 alerts concerning 37 countries, with journalists being murdered, imprisoned, physically attacked, legally harassed, and subjected to smear campaigns. The annual report has cast doubt on Member States’ commitment to upholding obligations on freedom of expression,…

A Polish court extended Pablo González’s pre-trial detention for the fourth time on 15 February 2023, meaning he will spend up to a further three months in prison. The Spanish freelance journalist was arrested on 28 February 2022, accused of being “an agent of Russian intelligence”, while covering the humanitarian crisis on the Polish-Ukrainian border. The International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) and their Spanish affiliates call on the authorities to release González without further delay, and ensure he will receive a fair trial. “The case is still in the Prosecutor’s Office. This is an investigation, and it is…

In July 2023, the European Commission will publish its annual rule of law report. The significant challenges to the rule of law within the Union in the past year are both old and new. While issues such as the non-implementation of court decisions, the shrinking of civic space in the EU and the restriction of freedom of expression across the EU have featured in previous joint civil society statements, the new coverage in country chapters and the rapidly changing geopolitical landscape have generated new horizontal concerns. Compliance with and respect for the rule of law in the EU are crucial…

Russian journalist Maria Ponomarenko has been jailed for six years for posting on Telegram about a deadly attack by Russian warplanes on a theatre in Ukraine. The International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) denounce this fierce repression of freedom of expression in Russia and demand the immediate release of the journalist. Maria Ponomarenko, 44, a correspondent of the RusNews channel on Youtube, was sentenced to six years in prison for comments critical of Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine, officials said, as part of an ongoing crackdown on dissent. The verdict is the latest in a series of high-profile rulings under new…

The partners of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) publish the latest edition of their Monitoring Report, analysing the state of press and media freedom throughout EU Member States and candidate countries in 2022. The Monitoring Report – produced by the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), the International Press Institute (IPI), and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) as part of the MFRR – gathers and analyses all media freedom violations recorded on Mapping Media Freedom throughout the year 2022.  War in Ukraine The current monitoring report starts with a thematic chapter on the war in Ukraine…

On 24 February 2023, it will be one year since Russia invaded Ukraine. The International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ/EFJ) are launching a new fundraising campaign to support Ukrainian journalists on the ground. Ukraine became the deadliest country for journalists in 2022 with 12 colleagues killed in the course of their work, according to the IFJ’s Killed List, and the needs are immense. The war still rages, and affects all dimensions of journalists’ lives from increasing insecurity, to the need for protection equipment and safety training and humanitarian aid for those forced to flee. As a response to the emergency situation,…

The MFRR Summit is back! This year, the conference titled “Press Freedom on the Line” will take place online from 29 – 31 March 2023. Reflecting the MFRR’s core campaign areas, the online conference will host in-depth discussions on journalist safety, media capture, the rule of law, and SLAPPs. Hosted on Zoom for interactive participation, and simultaneously livestreamed on the MFRR YouTube channel, the conference will play host to a range of panel discussions, live interviews, and keynote speeches with journalists, media freedom experts, policy-makers, and other stakeholders all working to defend press freedom. Take a look at the daily breakdown…

A Russian court on 1st February sentenced in absentia veteran journalist Alexander Nevzorov to eight years in prison for spreading so-called “false information” about Russia’s war on Ukraine. The European and International Federations of Journalism (EFJ-IFJ) join their Russian affiliate JMWU in condemning this criminalisation of journalism and call on the Russian authorities to review the ruling. Nevzorov came under pressure from authorities for alleging that Russian forces deliberately shelled a maternity hospital in Mariupol, in southern Ukraine. “Journalist Alexander Glebovich Nevzorov was found guilty (…) and sentenced to imprisonment for a period of eight years,” the press service for…

Russia’s General Prosecutor’s Office announced on 26 January that it has added the independent news outlet Meduza to the country’s list of “undesirable” organizations. This sanction is intended to force the targeted entities to dissolve. It puts media staff and financial donors at risk of criminal prosecution, including a significant prison sentence. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) strongly condemns this censorship of one of the main sources of independent information in Russia. Russia has been banning “undesirable organizations” since 2015, when lawmakers granted the Prosecutor General’s Office the power to assign this status to any foreign or international non-governmental…