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…

Joakim Medin, a Swedish freelance journalist arrested by Syrian security forces has been released, on Saturday night, according to the Swedish daily newspaper Expressen, who talked to the journalist. He was arrested by the Syrian forces earlier last week in the Kurdish areas of the country. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins its Swedish affiliate, SJ, to welcome his release. “Our thoughts are with the journalist’s family and I hope that they can be reunited as soon as possible,” said Jonas Nordling, President of the Swedish Union of Journalists, Journalist Förbundet (SJ). “It is becoming increasingly common for journalists being targeted…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has today expressed its solidarity with Deutsche Welle (DW) journalists who are participating in this afternoon’s demonstration in Bonn against cost-cutting measures in the agency. Ricardo Gutiérrez, the EFJ General Secretary said: “Cost-cutting measures are used to address the economic crisis but often for the wrong places. In an media organisation, such measures will have great impact on media pluralism, diversity and democracy. “We express our solidarity with DW workers and support the protest action today organised by the initiave of the trade union action circle, of which our affiliates DJV and dju in…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and its Russian affiliate, the Russian Union of Journalists (RUJ), are deeply concerned by the new threats against the Mass Media Defence Centre (MMDC), which is the only Russian NGO specialising in media law, as well as providing legal assistance and protecting media rights on a daily basis. Over the past two years, an unprecedented number of laws have been adopted in Russia which dramatically restrict the activities of all independent non-governmental organisations (NGOs). According to a law passed in 2012, Russian NGOs that receive foreign funding must declare themselves as “foreign agents”. This law threatens…

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) had today joined their affiliates in France and Morocco (SNJ, SNJ-CGT, CFDT-Journalistes and SNPM) to strongly denounce the death threats sent from a Twitter account to Zineb El Rhazoui, journalist and contributor of Charlie Hebdo, and her husband, the Moroccan writer Jaouad Benaissi. Rhazoui has received several threats via the social media Twitter containing picture and information on her husband’s home and working place; information that has also been published on social network. The fresh attack on Rhazoui and her husband shows that the Charlie Hebdo perpetrators…

In wake of the events taking place in Copenhagen last weekend, the Danish newspaper Politiken, launches today a project to improve diversity in the news and newsroom practices. According to the chief editor, Anne Mette Svane, the projest is ” about making better journalism”. ”We must be more aware of sensitive issues and question ourselves whether we have done enough in our reporting to reflect the reality;” said Mette Svane. The goals of the project are to achieve an equal representation of women in its news and increase its media coverage of ethnic minorities for at least 10% by 2018. The…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) today has told Johannes Hahn, the European Commissioner in charge of European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiation that media censorship is a reality in Serbia following his controversial remark made on 15 February in a media briefing prior to his visit to Skopje this week. According to journalists attended the media briefing, Commissioner Hahn told journalists that “I have heard this several times [concerns about media freedom] and I am asking always about proof. I am willing to follow up such reproaches, but I need evidence and not only rumours.” When journalists further questioned…

Two French journalists, Jean-Louis Perez and Pierre Chautard, working for France Télévisions were arrested by the Moroccan authorities on 15 February while they were making a documentary in Rabat. Perez and Chautard were arrested in the premises of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) when they were interviewing the President of the AMDH, Mr. Ahmed El-Haij about the human rights situation in the country. The police also seized their equipment and told them to leave the country immediately. Following the arrest, the French journalists’ unions (SNJ, SNJ-CGT and CFDT-Journalistes) denounced the arrest. “The arrest is not acceptable and the…

(updated 15/02/2015) The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) strongly condemn the deadly shootings which took place Saturday and early Sunday in Copenhagen. One civilian has been killed and three police officers injured after armed men opened fire on Krudttønden meeting place, on Saturday. The title of the meeting was: “Art, Blasphemy and Freedom of Expression”. In the second attack, early Sunday, outside the city’s main synagogue, a man was shot in the head and later died, and two officers were wounded. The Saturday meeting was attended by Lars Vilks, the controversial Swedish artist who has…

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) have welcomed the announcement by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to reopening Greek public broadcaster ERT, which was closed down by the previous government in June 2013. On Monday 9 February Nikos Pappas, the State Minister responsible for public service broadcasting, said that the government will prepare a draft law in a month’s time in order to allow the re-opening of ERT. The PSB went off air in June 2013 and 2700 staff were laid off as part of austerity measures adopted by the government of former Prime…

Update (13/06/2015): Emin Huseynov flew out of Azerbaijan on the plane of Switzerland’s top diplomat Didier Burkhalter, who attended the Euro Games ceremony in Baku late on Friday (12/06/2015). Emin Huseynov who had been sheltering for 10 months at the Swiss embassy in Baku, is now in Bern. Julian Assange’s Courage Foundation helped him escape Azerbaijan and fly to Switzerland.   Reportage broadcasted this week by the Swiss national television shows the case of Azeri journalist and human rights defender Emin Huseynov, secretly hidden in the Swiss Embassy in Baku (Azerbaijan) since last August due to a wave of repression…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) represented by President, Mogens Blicher Bjerregård, told EU policy-makers to address the unfair contractual practices in the media and creative sectors in a meeting organised by the European Parliament working group on intellectual property rights and copyright reform in Strasburg. Addressing members of the working group, Blicher Bjerregård says, “The biggest challenge facing journalists today is the unfair contractual practices that deprived the right of journalists from receiving fair payment for their work. “The imbalance in negotiation power between media organisations and individual journalists allows this to happen.” You can read the full speech…

At the end of a three-day visit to Bulgaria, Nils Muižnieks, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, said today he was concerned at the insufficient transparency of media ownership and financing and lack of action against media concentration.This has reportedly resulted in a media landscape worryingly characterised by many outlets serving few interests. “Genuine media pluralism is the institutional guarantee for the fulfillment of the right to receive and impart information and the authorities must take steps to secure it”, said Nils Muižnieks. Referring to the recent imposition of high fines by the Bulgarian financial supervision authority on media reporting on companies’ financial…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has today received an official complaint drafted by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) which draws the attention to alarming developments in Serbia. According to the network, the Serbian Prime Minister, some media that support his administration and other high-ranking government officials are conducting unprecedented attacks against critical voices. After a series of investigations on issues of public interest, the Serbian authorities and pro-governmental media organisations started a public campaign against BIRN journalists labelling them as “EU mercenaries, spies and liars” or people working against Serbian national interests. “We are alarmed and particularly concerned by what appears to…

In the framework of the project “Rights and Jobs in Journalism”, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) together with the Danish Journalists’ Union will organise a two-day workshop on “Let’s organise, invest in youth and skills” on 11 – 12 May in Copenhagen, Denmark.   Agenda The workshop will discuss and offer practice tools and exchanges on the following themes: Job losses vs job growth: What is the trend in jobs and skills in journalism? Five steps to restore sustainable jobs in European media Recruitment strategies: How to reach out to the youth and new types of workers? Creating Europe’s…

The European Court of Human Rights ruled in favour of Azerbaijani journalist Uzeyir Eldar oglu Jafarov who was subject to extreme violence and the authority failed to bring justice to his case. Jafarov was critical about the Azerbaijani government’s security, the defense policies and the activities of various senior military officers. On 20 April 2007, he wrote an article on an military officer, accusing him of corruption. His chief editor tried for defamation. Following the trial, two men punched him when he left the office. Jafarov stayed in hospital for seven days following the attack. He suffered from a cranial…