On Monday (22/01/2018), the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) organised a training of trainers workshop for the Labour Rights Expert Group Plus (LAREG+) at the EU InfoCentre in Podgorica (Montenegro) in the framework of its project Building Trust in Media in South East Europe and Turkey, financially supported by the UNESCO and the European Union. Trade union or professional association representatives from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo followed the training given by Croatian journalist and trade unionist Gabrijela Galic on how to build trust in media in the Western Balkans. The Turkish participant was not allowed to leave…

114 MPs from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) have signed a motion demanding an international monitoring on the investigation of the murder of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. The motion was signed at Strasbourg but has not yet been discussed in the Assembly. The signatures were collected in a single day, well surpassing the 20 signatures needed to submit a motion, with representation from all political groups. The motion was proposed by Dutch politician Pieter Omtzigt, and calls for an international approach to investigating the case of the murdered journalist. “The Parliamentary Assembly believes that the international community…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) is pleased to be an official partner of the discussion “Assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia – Demand for Close International Scrutiny”, held today in Strasbourg as a side event to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). Three months to the day after Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination, MPs Anne Brasseur (ALDE, Luxembourg), Pieter Omtzigt (EPP, Netherlands) and Frank Schwabe (SOC, Germany) announce an event to be held in her honour on the margins of the winter session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe today in Strasbourg. The cross-party group of MPs will host Daphne Caruana Galizia’s…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), along with the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) will embark on a Fact-Finding Mission to Estonia and Lithuania from 22 to 24 January 2018, in close cooperation with its affiliates, the Estonian Association of Journalists (EAJ), and the Lithuanian Journalists’ Union (LJU). The mission delegation will investigate the state of media freedom and journalists’ rights and working conditions in Estonia and Lithuania, meeting with journalists, government representatives, and public and private media organisations including Russian-speaking media and researchers. The issue of Russian “propaganda” and the need for ethical journalism, but also…

The undersigned organisations, partners of the Council of Europe Platform for the Promotion of Journalism and the Protection of Journalists, are deeply concerned over the lack of progress in the investigation into the murder of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. The authorities have announced the arrests of three suspects in connection with her murder, but there remains a widespread belief that those who ordered this crime have not yet been identified. Daphne Caruana Galizia was murdered in a car bomb explosion on October 16, a few meters away from her home. Her death raised concerns not only about protection of…

This morning, 18 January 2018, the joint Fact-Finding Mission to Serbia on media freedom and journalists’ rights commences by the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) in cooperation with the South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) and the International Press Institute (IPI) as well as the EFJ affiliates in Serbia: the Journalists’ Association of Serbia (UNS), the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (NUNS), and the Journalists’ Union of Serbia (SINOS). The two-day mission will meet with government representatives including the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic, the Ministry of Culture’s State Secretary, the Assistant Minister for Information and Media and the state…

The European Parliament debated on 17 January 2018 the burning issue of the so-called “fake news” and Russian propaganda on EU countries. The debate focused on fake news stories coming from unidentified people and bots, as well as well as politically-driven news from outlets such as state-owned Russia Today and Sputnik. The next European elections to take place in 2019 are likely to be the next big target for Russian propaganda, MEPs have warned. During this plenary session in Strasbourg, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) highlighted issues including the funding and staffing of actions against misinformation and the resilience of democracies…

On January 15 and 16, 2018, an international delegation of press freedom organisation representatives visited Zagreb to observe the state of media freedom in Croatia. This was the second such visit in two years. After the fact-finding mission in June 2016 produced particularly bad results (please find here the report), the representatives of the South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), the Association of European Journalists (AEJ), the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and Reporters without Borders (RSF) did find a slightly more positive situation at the…

The European Union and Turkey will see no progress in their relations as long as Turkey holds journalists in prison, the president of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker said on Friday (12/01/2018) at a news conference in Bulgaria. The president of the European Commission made this comment following the news that a Criminal Court in Istanbul defied the Turkish Constitutional Court’s decision ruling that the journalists’ rights had been violated and subsequently to release imprisoned journalists Mehmet Altan and Sahin Alpay.   “Turkey is moving away from its European ambitions of the past and we are going to have to see…

The International and European Federation of Journalists (IFJ and EFJ) have backed their Greek affiliates, standing with 420 MEGA TV station journalists and media workers left with no pay and no jobs for over 16 months. MEGA is one of the first private TV stations established in Greece, 28 years ago, and has attracted large audiences for practicing reliable and quality journalism in news bulletins and news programs and producing very popular series. During the past months, the station was broadcasting only entertainment content, bringing in a lot of advertising money. However the journalists were left with no pay. The…

A High Criminal Court of Istanbul has defied a Constitutional Court’s ruling that the rights of journalists Mehmet Altan and Sahin Alpay to liberty and freedom of expression have been violated and the two journalists should be released from custody. The lower court said the judgment was a “usurpation of authority” and therefore could not be accepted. Initially, the lower courts impacted by the ruling said the detentions would be reviewed after the top court’s reasoned decisions were formally communicated. In turn, the Turkish Constitutional Court then released its judgments and posted notes on social media saying that they are…

A European delegation of representatives from the various political parties of the European Parliament has released on Thursday the report from its mission to Malta, on 30 November and 1 December 2017. The delegation met Maltese journalists, the police commissioner and the attorney general of Malta, to discuss important issues affecting the rule of law in the country – including the state of the media. Maltese journalists from the Times of Malta, the Malta Independent and The Shift News were greeted by the delegation. The journalists highlighted legal challenges facing journalists, including libel cases, which are easy for the accusers but…

The Reuters Institute for the study of journalism has predicted the year 2018 in journalism with the release of its report, ‘Journalism, Media, and Technology Trends and Predictions 2018’, part of its Digital News Project 2018. Digitisation is a key theme: according to a survey of 194 editors, CEOs and digital leaders in media, almost half of publishers are more worried about the power and influence of platforms – especially Facebook and Snapchat – than this time last year. According to the report, however, platforms will be more wary about the reputational damage that comes with news. Reuters predicts that platforms…

The German journalists’ association and affiliate of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), Deutscher Journalisten-Verband (DJV), has called on the members of the German Bundestag to abolish the Network Enforcement Act (NetzDG) as soon as possible. DJV federal chairman, Frank Uberall, said that “the censorship of the satirical magazine Titanic, by Twitter, has confirmed our fears that we have already put forward in the legislative process. The NetzDG pushes the power over the fundamental right of freedom of the press and freedom of private companies such as Twitter and Facebook. There is no sound legal consideration of the deletion of…

After an issue on the precarious working conditions of journalists, HesaMag, a magazine produced by the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) about health and safety at work, just released its 16th edition entitled “The future of work in the digital era“. The magazine’s special report investigates the impact of technologies on working conditions and environments in the industry sector, as well as in the intellectual professions. A story on the fake news industry in Macedonia shows how young people, with no prospects of finding a decently paid job, manage to earn a few hundred euros by working around the clock. Working conditions…

The Centre for International Media Ethics (CIME) has published the results of its survey on ‘Media Ethics in the Post-Truth Era’. The survey, with responses from Africa, the Americas, Central and South Asia, Europe and Oceania, aimed to learn from media professionals about the state of media ethics in their countries. According to participants, the top issues faced at work for journalists around the world were fake news, low pay, the pressure to attract the largest audience and political or corporate spin. Despite these issues, over half of respondents said that their government’s responses to protecting media ethics rate between…