The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has joined the Italian organisation on Carta di Roma welcoming the new initiative launched by the Italy newspaper La Stampa to counter hate speech. The EFJ has called on media professionals to be aware of the danger of discrimination being furthered by the media through hate speech following recent debates and media coverage on “migrant crisis” in Europe. Ricardo Gutiérrez, the EFJ General Secretary said, “Journalists should dare to denounce and confront hate speech publicly. They have the ethical responsibility to counter racist and discriminatory messages and comments that incite hatred, violence or insult…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has joined Access Info Europe (AIE) in calling the Cypriot Government to improve its draft access to information law in order to meet international transparency standard. According to the global Right to Info Rating, the Republic of Cyprus freedom of information bill is set to become one of the worst in Europe. Access Info Europe (AIE) and the Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD) studied the draft text using the 61 indicators of the Right to Information Rating and found that Cyprus scores a dismal 57 points (out of 150) which positions itself near the buttom…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) today expresses its sadness and condolences for the loss of a great colleague, Mr. Santo Della Volpe, President of the Journalists’ Union of Italy (FNSI – Federazione Nazionale Stampa Italiana) who passed away early this morning at the age of 60. Della Volpe was elected as the President of the FNSI this January at its national Congress in Chianciano. He was a well-known TV journalist for the public channel of RAI, TG3. Della Volpe was also the founding member and Vice-President of the press freedom organisation “Article 21” in Italy. Mogens Blicher Bjerregård, EFJ…

Rising hatred and extremism on online platforms is a new challenge for journalists. Their work is getting much harder in a political climate marked by hatred and discrimination. The need for accurate and truthful reporting is more important than ever. “How to deal with hate speech and freedom of expression in the daily editorial work”: the issue will be discussed during the coming international seminar organised in Florence, Italy, by Associazione Carta di Roma and Arci, with the contribution of the Robert Kennedy Foundation Europe, Cospe and LSDI (Libertà di Stampa e Diritto all’Informazione). The European Federation of Journalists will also participate to the…

To bring some action to its usually serious – and sometimes dull – documents, the Steering Committee on Media and Information Society (CDMSI) of the Council of Europe (CoE) also met this week, in Strasbourg, with the six winners of a Spanish school comics competition on human rights and Internet. It is not sure that the kids would indeed “make sure to be safe online for the rest of their life”, as one of the children told the meeting, but the contribution of young Internet users definitely brought a fresh tone to the meeting. Good news: Online platform working On…

1. Resolutions The Annual Meeting of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) on 2nd June, 2015 has adopted the following resolutions: A. On lobbying 1. On Authors’ rights in the digital single market Tabled by DJV, Germany, SNJ-CGT, France, and EFJ Steering Committee The Annual Meeting of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), meeting in Budva, Montenegro on 2nd June 2015, Noting that authors’ rights are subject to intensive attacks from free use lobbying groups; Considering that any erosion of authors’ rights principles would hamper the economic situation of journalists in Europe and threaten quality journalism; Considering that the EU…

On 27 May, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) had a constructive meeting with Silvia Costa, the Chair of the European Parliament Committee on Culture and Education (CULT). Silvia Costa (S&D, Italy) who had signed the EFJ Manifesto, reiterated her strong support for its principles outlined and showed readiness to stand-up for them. As former journalist, Costa discussed with great interest on the various issues: how to improve media ownership transparency, media literacy,  training for journalists, authors’ rights, new financial models and start-ups  for journalists — all within the changing media landscape and its impact on journalists’ work as a…

Update (21.08.2015) – The Azerbaijani state prosecutor is asking today nine-year jail term for investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova, on trial in Baku. The European Federation of Journalists firmly condemns this outrageous request. She should be immediately released. The trial is due to continue on August 26. The verdict could come on that day. ——————— The international support to free Khadija Ismayilova, a jailed female Azerbaijani investigative journalist, is growing around Europe and is expected to be a top embarrassing issue for the EU and Azerbaijani authorities during the first European Games to be held in Baku (Azerbaijan) from 12 to 28 June 2015.…

en français / en español by Paco Audije (Spain, member of the Steering Committee of the EFJ) Today on World Press Freedom Day (#WPFD), the right to freedom of expression is again be celebrated as an inalienable European value across the continent — by the public, the media and politicians alike. But to many, this will mean little more than engaging in a well trodden mental routine. We hardly consider the difficulties that freedom of expression faces in practice. In the first part of 2015, more than a third of journalist killings in the word took place in two European…

The Freelance Expert Group (FREG) of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) agreed at its latest meeting in Brussels (26/02/2015) to reinforce its campaign to improve the social and professional status of freelance journalists in Europe. The EFJ experts reached an agreement on two major issues: All freelance journalists are journalists and have the right to be member of a trade union or professional association. They have the right to be represented and defended by the organization of their choice. This may seem to be an obvious fact but in several European countries – such as EU member states Greece and…

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) are deeply saddened by the death of Ukrainian journalist Sergii Nikolaiev, 43, in eastern Ukraine, on Saturday. Sergii Nikolaiev, senior photographer of Segodnya daily Ukrainian newspaper, died of wounds after an artillery attack near the village of Pesky located just 1.5 kilometer from Donetsk airport, in eastern Ukraine, on February 28. He has become the first Ukrainian journalist killed in eastern Ukraine and the seventh one of the entire journalists’ death toll of this war. Five journalists from Russia and one from Italy were killed in this war last…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has attended at the Brussels Press Club,  the launch of a new book Mapping Foreign Correspondence in Europe showing that London is the world capital of foreign correspondents. The editor of the book Georgios Terzis has conducted a pan-european research for almost two years and gathered data about the 6.600 registered journalists working as correspondents in 27 countries (this first edition does not include information for Poland and Italy). According to the data disclosed, the country that has the highest number of foreign correspondents working there is the United Kingdom (1.700), following by France (945), Belgium…

The European Federation of Journalists attended the conference “Je suis Charlie-Media Freedom in the EU and South Eastern Europe” at the European Parliament. Hosted by Ulrike LUNACEK, Vice-President of the European Parliament, Green Party, in cooperation with the Italian based Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso (OBC) the meeting discussed threats on media freedom, in particular within the context of the project “safety net for European journalists presented by OBC. Tanja FAJON, Member of the European Parliament, warned about excessive security measures taken by European governments after the Charlie Hebdo’s attack. “In this moment, the government’s responsibility is to strengthen solidarity and…

Senior representatives from broadcasting, network infrastructure, trade unions and professional organisations call on EU decision-makers to shape an ambitious industrial strategy for Europe’s creative and cultural industries. Europe’s unique radio and audiovisual model is a huge asset for Europe’s competitive position in the digital world, cultural diversity and media pluralism. Meeting in the European Parliament today[1], senior representatives of AER, APWPT, BNE, EBU, EFJ and UNI MEI[2] called for an industrial strategy for creative and cultural industries based on growth, innovation and jobs. Speaking at the meeting, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has called on EU policy-makers to take…

Europe needs more media pluralism. The application of the “Media Pluralism Monitor 2014”, developped by the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom (CMPF) at the Florence European University Institute, demonstrates that there are various risks for media pluralism across nine selected countries (Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy and the United Kingdom). The results of the study are clear: “Every country has a specific weakness that creates high scores, meaning high risk”. Here are the main results (full report here): Hungary (50% of the indicators show a high risk). The MPM2014 for Hungary shows a situation of high risk for media…

There were more than a million of supporters last Sunday on the streets of Paris. Citizens of all backgrounds and beliefs came together to defend freedom of expression, following the terrorist attack that killed 17 people in France and  destroyed the whole team of the satirical weekly “Charlie Hebdo” on Wednesday 7 January. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), and their French affiliates, SNJ, SNJ-CGT and CFDT-Journalists were leading the march behind a banner, alongside with EFJ affiliates from United Kingdom and Ireland (NUJ), Italy (FNSI), Spain (FAPE and FeSP), Belgium (AJP), the Netherlands…