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…

As a follow-up to the case of Željko Peratović, a freelance journalist and blogger who has been attacked at his home on May 28, 2015 in an attempted murder, the Croatian Journalists’ Association (Hrvatsko Novinarsko Drustvo, an EFJ-IFJ affiliate) is reminding the authorities with several cases of death threats and attacks on journalists which are still not resolved. “It is one year since freelancer Domagoj Margetić has been beaten up in front of his apartment in Zagreb. The Croatian State Attorney defined that attack as attempted murder but not the attacker or motifs, nor the person(s) who possibly ordered it…

Update (06.11.2015). The EFJ has joined today its Georgian affiliate, IAGJ, to express concerns related to the appointment of a new pro-government management to the Rustavi 2 TV company in Georgia, following a judiciary decision. We ask the Tbilisi City Court not to interfere on Rustavi 2’s editorial independence. ——————- The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) together with its Georgian affiliate, the Independent Association of Georgian Journalists (IAGJ), criticised today the lawsuit launched against the Georgian television channel Rustavi 2 as a threat to media freedom and pluralism in the country. On August 5, the Tbilisi City Court issued a court order freezing the…

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…

In the framework of the project “Reaching out to atypical workers” funded by the European Commission, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) together with its affiliate, the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), in Ireland will organise a workshop on “Collective bargaining for atypcial workers” on 8 & 9 September in Dublin.  Workshop discussion summary EFJ calls for stronger rights for freelance workers Agenda The workshop is part of the joint project with partners FIA, UNI-MEI and FIM to address the challenges facing by unions in the sector to represent freelance workers and defend their rights. Key issues include: Collective bargaining…

Rasim Aliyev (31), an Azerbaijani independent journalist who was attacked and beaten by supporters of a local soccer player in retaliation for criticism posted on a Facebook page, has died of his injuries in a Baku hospital on Sunday (August 9). The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) are deeply saddened by his death. “The climate of impunity for violent acts against journalists and human rights defenders in Azerbaijan may encourage some individuals to commit such grave crimes without being punished. Journalists, like every citizen, in Azerbaijan must be free to share their personal…

The American Press Institute presented on Thursday the results of a survey of nearly 10,500 journalism and communication graduates from 22 universities across the United States. These graduates are pessimistic about the direction of news in general, but most believe their own work in the last five years has gotten better. The survey found that while just 41% of journalism graduates are employed by news organisations, sizable minorities in other fields still look at themselves as journalists: 22% work for commercial brands, 16% in education and 14% in politics and think tanks. Among the 36% employed in journalism organisations, there…

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) have demanded Turkey to drop the “terrorism charges” against 18 journalists who could face 7.5 years in prison for publishing a photo. Following a series of crackdown on online media during the past weeks in Turkey, the chief prosecutors’ office in Istanbul yesterday launched a prosecution against 18 journalists working for nine different newspapers on charges of “making propaganda for a terrorist organisation” after publishing a picture from a hostage siege that took place on 31 March 2015 in Istanbul when two terrorists from the outlawed Marxist Revolutionary…

Since the end of July, media organisations and journalists in Turkey are particularly affected by the growing armed conflict between the Turkish government and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Access to over 100 news and information websites including major news portals on Kurdish issues such as Dicle News Agency (DIHA), Etkin News Agency (ETHA), Özgür Gündem newspaper and Sendika.org news portal on Turkish trade unionism have been blocked in Turkey by the High Council for Telecommunications (TIB). Based on the initiative of the TGS (Journalists Union of Turkey, EFJ-IFJ affiliate), TGC (Association of Journalists in Turkey), Disk Basin-Is (Progressive Journalists Union…

updated (04/08/2015): Latest on netzpolitik treason scandal: German Justice Minister Heiko Maas effectively sacks Federal Prosecutor Harald Range. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its European organisation, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), have today called on the German government to immediately drop the investigation launched against two journalists, Andre Meister and Markus Beckedahl, over suspicion of treason. Following widespread criticism of the decision, the German prosecutor General Harald Range said on Friday that he was suspending the investigation, pending external expertise, “for the good of press and media freedom”. However, the IFJ and the EFJ are demanding that charges be…

updated (04/08/2015): Latest on netzpolitik treason scandal: German Justice Minister Heiko Maas effectively sacks Federal Prosecutor Harald Range. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its European organisation, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), have today called on the German government to immediately drop the investigation launched against two journalists, Andre Meister and Markus Beckedahl, over suspicion of treason. Following widespread criticism of the decision, the German prosecutor General Harald Range said on Friday that he was suspending the investigation, pending external expertise, “for the good of press and media freedom”. However, the IFJ and the EFJ are demanding that charges be…

The Association of Journalists of Macedonia (AJM or ZNM), EFJ-IFJ affiliate, has issued a letter of concern (27/07/2015) addressed to intergovernmental institutions and non-governmental organisations regarding recent attacks against journalists in Macedonia. “Violence against journalists in Macedonia has escalated and taken dramatic proportions in the last several months. The Association of Journalists of Macedonia (AJM), over the period of four years, has registered 23 threats and physical attacks against journalists, of which half occurred in the first six months of this year, and the perpetrators have not been punished yet. The verbal death threats, the physical attacks and the destruction…

Working as freelance journalists can be considered as a crime in Belarus. Since the beginning of this year, the Belarusian authority has filed 24 cases (see infographic below) against freelance journalists imposing fines for their works. In all the cases, the journalists are accused of violating article 22.9 of the administrative code (unlawful production and distribution of mass media products). According to the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ), an affiliate of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), the total sum of the fines imposed on journalists so far this year amounted to 117 million Belarusian rubles (over 6.000 EUR). The EFJ…

Alongside their Spanish affiliates, the Federation of Journalists Unions (FeSP), the Spanish Press Federations of Journalists Associations (FAPE) and Periodistas de CCOO (FSC-CCOO),  the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its regional organisation, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), express their concern over the missing of three Spanish freelance journalists in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria. FAPE President Elsa Gonzalez told media that José Manuel López, Antonio Pampliega and Ángel Sastre entered Syria from Turkey on July 10 and were last heard from on July 12. The three journalists were reporting from the northwestern Aleppo region, a city divided between rebel…

The UK’s High Court has ruled that parts of the controversial surveillance law, the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act (DRIPA), violated article 7 and 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights and the personal data protection laws. The EFJ affiliate in the UK, the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), has long been campaigning against DRIPA to ensure that the right of journalists to protect their confidential sources is protected. On Friday 17 July, the High Court of Justice of England and Wales found that UK surveillance laws are incompatible with the European convention on human rights and the EU charter…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), in partnership with Index on Censorship and Reporters Without Borders, has today (22/07/2015) published a new call for a crowd-sourced approach to map all violations, threats and limitations to media freedom in Europe. The online newsletter available on bit.ly/mappingmediafreedom1 is explaining step by step how to easily report the violations and use the mapping tool for advocacy. Correction for submission link (31/07/2015): https://mappingmediafreedom.org/reports/submit