The International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) condemned today the increasing verbal and online violence against journalists in Ukraine. On 30 May 2018, Larissa Sargan, spokeswoman of the General Prosecutor of Ukraine, posted on her Facebook profile a list of 26 so-called “traitors” who criticized the law enforcement authorities after the so-called “murder” in Kyiv of Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko. The “murder” was in fact an operation in which Ukrainian security services (SBU) faked Babchenkos’s assassination. Two journalists appear in Larissa Sargan’s list of so-called traitors: Myroslava Gongadze and Sergiy Tomilenko, who is the President of the National Union…

In January 2018 an international delegation of press freedom organisation representatives visited Zagreb for the second time in two years to observe the state of media freedom in Croatia. Now, the report is out, and these are the recommendations. After a joint mission of media freedom organisations in June 2016 produced particularly bad results, a new delegation, consisting of 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 (represented by Marijana Camovic, member of the EFJ Steering Committee)…

UPDATE (30/05/2018) Arkady Babchenko, the Russian journalist who was reported to have been shot dead in Kiev, has turned up alive at a news conference in Ukraine this afternoon. Vasily Gritsak, head of the Ukrainian security service, told reporters the agency had faked Babchenko’s death to catch people who were trying to kill him. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) condemns this lie and unacceptable manipulation of public opinion. Whenever subterfuge is used, journalists and media, like law-enforcement officials, have a responsibility to disclose how and why they used it and to justify their actions. The EFJ is not convinced by the…

Newspaper journalists went on strike all over Germany on 28 May 2018 after the fifth round of negotiations for a collective agreement between publishers and two German journalist unions, the Deutscher Journalisten-Verband (DJV) and Deutsche Journalisten Union (dju in ver.di), in Berlin ended without a result. For the last few months, the DJV and dju in ver.di, the German affiliates of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), have been in negotiations with the Federal Association of German Newspaper Publishers (BDZV) to improve the working conditions for around 13,000 editors at daily newspapers. The negotiations were accompanied by numerous warning strikes…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has backed its affiliate the Trade Union of Media of Montenegro (SMCG) in demanding the authorities in Montenegro to urgently “secure the conditions for carrying out an independent investigation of assassination of Dusko Jovanovic, the editor-in-chief of newspaper “Dan”. It has passed 14 years since our colleague Jovanovic was murdered, and state authorities failed to detect, find and arrest the perpetrators and masterminds of the most grave violation against journalists in the history of Montenegro. Dusko Jovanovic was killed on May 27, 2004 in front of the editorial offices of his newspaper in Podgorica. After 14…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) sent a letter to the Commissioners Gabriel and Oettinger on 24 May 2018 to express our concern that freedom of expression will not be reflected in the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF). We believe that it is crucial for media freedom and media pluralism to be given a clear priority in the EU budget for the future (2021-2027). Other media freedom organisations like the ECPMF sent a letter to Commissioners Gabriel, Navracsics, Oettinger and First Vice-President of the European Commission Timmermanns. Missing Freedom of expression budget in Multiannual Financial Framework Dear Commissioner, We write to you on…

The International and European Federation of Journalists (IFJ and EFJ) today condemned the updated sanctions list signed on 14 May by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and published yesterday which bans for three years Russian media organisations based in Ukraine, including Russian news agencies RIA Novosti, Rossiyasegodnya.rf, Sputniknews.com, Rsport.ria.ru, 1prime.ru, Realty.ria.ru and rian.com.ua. Russian TV channels rtr-planeta.com, russia.tv, vesti.ru, tvkultura.ru, digitalrussia.tv are also banned. The move comes a week after a RIA Novosti journalist was detained in Kiev and accused of treason. The decree introduces measures such as blocking of assets, limiting or stopping the provision of telecommunications services and the use of public telecommunications networks,…

The undersigned organisations represent photographers, photojournalists, journalists, painters, sculptors, designers, architects and street artists. Our organisations are deeply concerned that the statement of the General Advocate (GA) to the Court of Justice of the European Union, Mr Manuel Campos Sanchez-Bordona, dated 25 April 2018 and concerning the case C–161/17 – Land NRW vs Dirk Renckhoff could, if implemented, strongly damage authors’ position and the protection of their authors’ rights. We believe that the damage caused by the expropriation of authors require an immediate action by the European legislator. Our members are much concerned that the General Advocate’s interpretations of EU…

After negotiations for a collective agreement with the Norwegian Public Broadcasting (NRK), the Norwegian Union of Journalists (NJ) managed to win on all main demands on 23 May 2018 in Oslo. The 1700 journalist members of the NJ at the Norwegian Public Service Broadcasting NRK had gone on strike on 15 May 2018, after initial negotiations and mediation had not led to a new collective agreement. The public service broadcasting NRK is the largest media house in Norway, with 3400 employees. After eight days of renewed negotiations workers of the NJ and NRK came to an agreement: competence enhancement and training…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) was invited to meet important stakeholders on media including the leadership of the host, the Association of Journalists of Macedonia (AJM)  on 8-9 May 2018 in Skopje. The meetings were part of a project on building capacity of  the AJM. The EFJ also met Tamara Chausidis, the President of the Trade Union Of Macedonian Journalists And Media Workers (SSNM) and some photo journalists  to coordinate common work and discuss some major challenges photo journalists face in Macedonia. On 9 May, Renate Schroeder, EFJ Director together with Dragan Sekulovski, Director of the AJM met with Robert Popovski,…

A new report about journalists’ labour rights in Europe was published by the Labour Rights Experts Group Plus (LAREG+) of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) on May 2018. It contains national reports about journalists’ labour rights from the following countries: Albania: Without support for increased labour rights and protections for freedom of expression, trust in media cannot be increased. Bosnia & Herzegovina: It is believed that bad working conditions also affect the quality of journalism. If the pay were higher and working conditions were better, this would have a positive effect on journalism. Kosovo: Media owners should provide working…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) calls again for an investigation into the suspicious death of Russian journalist Maksim Borodin. From Ekaterinburg (Ural, Russia), where he is attending the EU International Conference on Professional Standards and Ethics of Journalism in the Digital Age, the EFJ General Secretary Ricardo Gutiérrez calls on Russian authorities to conduct a thorough investigation into the death of Maksim Borodin. He died a month ago, after falling from the balcony of his fifth-floor apartment, on 12 April in Ekaterinburg. “It is not the first time we face such a “mysterious” death in Russia. Public authorities should…

The EFJ-IFJ has submitted the following alert to the Council of Europe’s platform to promote the protection of journalism and safety of journalists : Kyrylo Vyshynsky, a Ukrainian journalist working for Russia’s state-run news agency RIA Novotsi in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, was detained on 15 May 2018 on allegations of treason. His arrest came hours before raids by Ukrainian security service (SBU) at the news agency’s offices. According to media reports, the authorities suspected Vyshynsky, who was granted Russian citizenship in 2015 by Presidential decree, of allegedly collaborating with Ukrainian armed separatists in Eastern Ukraine. The prosecuting officials in…

Investigative journalist Pavla Holcova, former colleague of Jan Kuciak and founder of the Czech Center for Investigative Reporting, was interrogated by the Slovak National Crime Agency during eight hours on Tuesday 15 May, after which her phone was seized. Ms Holcova had been working with Jan Kuciak on behalf of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) when he was murdered and had therefore previously helped police telling what she knew. She first believed this new summons was another meeting to help investigating the murder of Jan Kuciak. But the interrogation lasted over eight hours and was not about Kuciak’s killing. In…

Following the EFJ-ECPMF fact-finding mission to Estonia and Lithuania, Renate Schroeder, director of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) met with the office of Kaja Kallas (ALDE), Yana Toom (ALDE) and the office of Indrek Tarand on 15 May 2018, all Estonian Members of the European Parliament (MEP) to discuss the findings of the report. According to the mission’s findings, the biggest problem is neither fake news nor Russian propaganda, but the economic pressure on media creating a culture of “clicktivism”. Although journalistic codes of conduct in Estonia are in place and the government refrains from regulating the media market, editorial independence and…

Update 24.05.2018: After negotiations for a collective agreement with the Norwegian Public Broadcasting (NRK), the Norwegian Union of Journalists (NJ) managed to win on all main demands on 23 May 2018 in Oslo. The 1700 journalist members of the Norwegian Union of Journalists (NJ) at the Norwegian Public Service Broadcasting NRK went on strike today, after negotiations and mediation did not lead to a new collective agreement. The European Federation of Journalists and the Broadcasting Expert group expressed their solidarity with the journalists on strike at NRK and NJ. According to the EFJ affiliate, NJ, the NRK wants to replace around…