Czech Republic: Public media funding bill raises concerns over compatibility with EMFA

A new government bill which would overhaul the funding model for the Czech public media risks financially weakening the broadcasters, eroding safeguards for their financial independence and violating European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), the undersigned Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) partners, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and other media freedom, journalist and freedom of expression organisations warn today. Our organisations call on the European Commission to closely assess this bill regarding its compatibility with Article 5 of EMFA and to ensure that no reforms are undertaken which threaten the financial, editorial or institutional independence of the Czech public media.…

2025 Candidate for Vice-Presidency: Pablo Aiquel

Who I am Journaliste depuis près de trente ans, j’ai principalement travaillé pour des médias vénézuéliens, français ou francophones, en radio et presse écrite. Installé depuis 20 ans à Vichy, j’ai travaillé en presse locale, enseigné le journalisme et participé à des projets culturels pour l’accueil des réfugiés. Désormais je suis journaliste pigiste pour la Gazette des communes et Le Courrier des maires, des médias spécialisés dans les politiques publiques locales. Je suis secrétaire général du SNJ-CGT depuis juin 2024, ainsi que négociateur de branche et délégué syndical élu en entreprise. I am professional journalist since nearly thirty years, I…

2025 Candidate for Presidency: Maja Sever

My priorities for the EFJ Over the past three years, as President of the European Federation of Journalists, I’ve had the honour of working with great, brave people and witnessing incredible solidarity in these difficult and crisis-filled times. Conflicts, the war in Ukraine, rising violence against journalists, attacks on media freedom, lack of trust in journalism, technological change, and ever-present political pressure—it’s hard even to list all the fronts on which journalism is under attack. But what guided us and made sense of it all was the spirit of unity among EFJ members. We reacted, protected our colleagues, empowered our…

2025 Candidate for SC Member: Banu Tuna

Who I am I’m an Istanbul-based journalist for more than 25 years, holding a master’s degree in human rights law. A member of the Journalists’ Union of Turkey since 2006. I was elected as the Istanbul chair of the union in 2019. After serving for a term, I was elected as the General Secretary in 2023. Also teaching reporting and news writing at the university.  Despite being a member of TGS for many years, my dismissal from daily Hürriyet Newspaper, where I had been working for 23 years, marked the beginning of my journey in TGS. The reason I was…

2025 Candidate for SC Member: Domenico Affinito

Who I am I’m a professional journalist and I’m 54 years old. I work for one of Italy’s biggest newspaper “Corriere della Sera”, where in the last ten years I’m an investigative data journalist. I have been a journalist since 1991. My first experiences were in crime and court reporting for local and national newspapers. As a correspondent, I covered the wars in Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan. From 2000 to 2009, I followed events in the Middle East. From 2009 to 2014, I covered Italian and European issues. From 2003 to 2017, I was vice president of the Italian section of Reporters…

2025 Candidate for SC Member: Allan Boye Thulstrup

Who I am My name is Allan Boye Thulstrup, and I have been part of the EFJ Steering Committee since 2022. After four years as vice president of the Danish Union of Journalists I was recently elected as president of the Union, which is the only union for media workers in Denmark. Before holding elected office, I, among other things, worked as a journalist covering local and national politics. Why I am standing For the past three years in the SC we have worked on several important issues, and I consider the most important result to be our work on…

2025 Candidate for Vice-Presidency: Marta Barcenilla

Who I am I am a journalist and unionist half and a half, I was born in Palencia (Spain) in 1975. I lived and studied there until 1995 when I moved to Salamanca to study journalism in a Pontificia University in Salamanca (Spain). After that I returned to Palencia to start to work in different positions in Diario Palentino, then move to Toledo, to work on La Tribuna; came back to Castilla y León to work in ICAL regional news agency, where my journalist work is actually. In 2007 I moved to Madrid to work in CCOO to start to…

Greece: Total impunity persists on fourth anniversary of Giorgos Karaivaz murder

Today to mark the fourth anniversary of the killing of Greek crime reporter Giorgos Karaivaz in April 2021. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins the undersigned international media freedom and journalist organisations in renewing the call for justice and for ending the ongoing impunity, which continues to cast a dark shadow over the Greek media and press freedom landscape. Karaivaz, a veteran reporter specialised in police and crime issues, was gunned down outside his home in Athens by two men on a moped on 9 April 2021, in what is widely suspected to have been a professional contract killing…

NGOs under attack: EFJ joins call for a strong and independent civil society in Europe

In the face of attacks on European civil society organisations by certain Members of the European Parliament, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins Civil Society Europe and more than 570 other organisations from 40 countries, in denouncing these misleading narratives and calling to defend the vital role of civil society in European decision-making processes. Spearheaded by some MEPs from the European People’s Party (EPP) and by far-right groups, this attack resorts to misleading arguments to fabricate a scandal. This portrayal has been amplified through the media, with notable exceptions of articles that attempted to clarify this misleading narrative. European…

Finland: Journalists’ union filed complaint to the Prosecutor General in the case of journalist Ida Erämaa

The preliminary investigation into alleged defamation targeting Finnish journalist Ida Erämaa has been closed after the Chief Prosecutor of Southern Finland found that the journalist was partly responsible for the insults and threats she received. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins its affiliate, the Finnish Union of Journalists (UJF), in criticising the decision and the justifications put forward. The UJF filed a complaint with the Office of the Prosecutor General. In 2023, Ida Erämaa’s column about the right-wing Finns Party (PS) in the tabloid newspaper Iltalehti led to a large-scale online harassment campaign by PS supporters and MPs, whose…

European-wide open letter on AI and press protection

Human creativity and culture are the enablers of innovation, including Artificial Intelligence. Innovation, however, cannot come at the expense of human creativity and culture. When Al systems exploit online creative and cultural content -including press content- to fuel their own services, they unduly profit from human work. AI poses a double societal challenge: protecting both citizens’ fundamental rights and the link between human-made content and the machines that use it. When Generative AI uses journalistic and editorial materials notably to produce, without permission or remuneration, parasitic press-like content at minimal cost and without editorial oversight, everyone loses. We are also…

SUJ: EFJ members trained to address online harassment of journalists

The third ‘Stand Up for Journalism’ workshop was dedicated to the online safety of journalists and took place in Belgrade, Serbia, on 31 March – 1 April 2025. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (NUNS) organised this event to support journalists’ organisations in addressing the rising threats journalists face, particularly online harassment and legal protections in the digital age. It was attended by 30 union representatives from 16 countries. One of the key topics was the increasing danger journalists face on social media platforms in Europe, exacerbated by the evolving digital media landscape.…

Turkey: Detained Swedish journalist Joakim Medin must be released immediately

Read the statement in turkish The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined the partners of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) in strongly condemning the arrest of Swedish journalist Joakim Medin on terrorism charges in Turkey and calling for his immediate release. This is the latest incident amidst the ongoing crackdown on press freedom in which dozens of journalists have been arrested and beaten. On 27 March 2025, Joakim Medin, a regular contributor to the Swedish daily newspaper Dagens ETC and member of the Swedish Union of Journalists (SJF), was travelling to cover the widespread protests against the recent arrest…

Germany: New study confirms SLAPPs is increasingly used against journalists

Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) are being used as a tool to silence journalists, activists, and civil society groups through costly and time-consuming legal battles. The No-SLAPP Alliance, a coalition of around 15 civil society organisations including the German journalists’ union dju in ver.di, calls on the German government to take decisive action against these abusive legal tactics, following a survey conducted in September 2024 with 227 respondents. A study commissioned by the dju in ver.di, the Society for Civil Rights, the Munich Environmental Institute, and the Otto Brenner Foundation, indicates that 60% of those affected are journalists, with…

Turkey: Foreign journalists arrested amid massive crackdown on journalists

On 30 March, Turkish authorities officially confirmed the arrest of Swedish journalist Joakim Medin upon his arrival in Türkiye. His detention came shortly after British journalist Mark Lowen from the BBC was arrested and deported from Türkiye on 28 March. The International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) joined the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) in the UK and the Swedish Union of Journalists (SJF) in calling on Turkish authorities to immediately release Joakim Medin and all local and foreign journalists who have been detained. BBC journalist Mark Lowen was detained on 26 March and deported after 17 hours in…

Serbia: Spyware attacks on BIRN journalists further deepen press freedom crisis

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) along with partner organisations of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) today raise further alarm about the deepening press freedom crisis in Serbia in the wake of revelations showing evidence of the abuse of advanced Pegasus spyware to target two journalists from leading investigative media platform BIRN. Our organisations warn that the ultimately failed attempt to use military-grade surveillance technology to spy on journalists from the award-winning Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) represents another milestone in the deteriorating situation in Serbia, which requires immediate and strong interventions from the European Union. The confirmation of…

Serbia: MFRR media freedom mission to visit Belgrade and Novi Sad

The partner organisation of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) will conduct a mission to Serbia between 7-9 April to meet with journalists, media stakeholders and law enforcement authorities amidst a rapidly worsening media freedom crisis. During the three-day visit, the delegation will travel to Belgrade and Novi Sad to meet with journalists, editors, media outlets, journalist associations and civil society groups to gather information about the serious spike in pressure on independent journalism and media freedom by state authorities and government officials. The mission has sought meetings with officials from the State Prosecutor’s Office and the Serbian Police, as…