A number of members of the US Congress have signed a joint letter urging the Secretary of State John Kerry to press the Turkish government to stop intimidating journalists and media in the country. In a letter to Kerry (Signatures and Letter), 89 members of Congress said that the Turkish government poses a threat to democracy because it “intimidates, arrests and smothers voices opposed to the governments”. Stressing that Turkey is a strategic ally to the US in the Middle East and a key member of NATO, congress members expressed hope to see the Turkish government “abandon this course of intimidation and…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) represented by the President, Mogens Blicher Bjerregård, will attend the third meeting of the Copyright Working Group of the European Parliament (EP) on 12 February in Strasbourg, to address the interest of journalists in the upcoming EU copyright reform. For the first time, representatives of authors including the EFJ are invited to address the issue in front of the group and other members of the parliament. Blicher Bjerregård said, “The importance of authors’ rights has not changed because of the emergence of new media platforms. Authors’ rights become ever more important in ensuring the…

(05/01/2015) The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has  participating in the FES-SINOS Trade Union Seminar in Belgrade (Serbia). The seminar organised by SINOS (Journalists Union of Serbia, EFJ affiliate), with the financial support of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), has focused on the lack of social dialogue and the role of trade union organisations in the private media. The seminar with around 50 participants attracted extensive media coverage. The speakers included Dragana Cabarkapa (SINOS, Serbia), Renate Schroeder (EFJ Director), Tamara Causidis (SSNM, Macedonia), Dejan Gligorijevic (SINOS, Serbia), Marijana Camović (TUMM, Montenegro), Anton Filic (TUCJ, Croatia), several media experts, Mr Dusan…

Deteriorating working conditions of journalists put press freedom in danger, according to a study published by the University of Fribourg and the Federal Office of Communications in Switzerland. The study participated by 1000 journalists who are members of the affiliate of the European Federation of Journalists, impressum, proves that the deteriorating working conditions have a negative impact on press freedom and quality of journalism. The results suggest that economic pressure from advertisers and the media owners are jeopardising the editorial freedom of media. Ricardo Gutiérrez, EFJ General Secretary said: “The conclusions are clear: we fought hard to ensure that press…

Interns working for the British newspaper Financial Times will now receive payment for their work following a successful negotiation by the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) in the UK. The deal brokered by the NUJ is part of the overall pay settlement of an above-inflation rise for all FT staff from April. Unpaid internship remains a common practice in the UK particularly in the journalism industry. According to a report published by the National Council for the Training of Journalists in 2013, 82% of graduate entering into the profession have done an internship, of which 92% of them were unpaid.…

Following the devastating attack on Charlie Hebdo, the global journalists community launched solidarity action and paid tribute to the journalists killed in the attack. Below is a picture gallery compiled by the journalists’ union (Syndicat National des Journalistes) in France.

Marianne Thyssen, EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility told a delegation of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) on 30 January that the European Commission is taking action to better prevent and deter undeclared work and bogus self-employment which contradicts EU labour standards. The EFJ raised concerns over the complete deregulation of economic and social labour relations in journalism leading to a new precarious workforce who cannot earn a living from journalism. To give concrete examples of the situation, the EFJ delegation gave copies of  recent EFJ reports on Confronting Austerity : Financial and Employment Models…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) last week sent journalist Barry White (NUJ UK) to observe the new press trials in Turkey, 29 – 31 January. Barry White, also a member of the EFJ Steering Committee, was joined by Mustafa Kuleli (General Secretary of the Journalists Union of Turkey, TGS), atthe first hearing against journalists Can Dündar (Cumhuriyet), Utku Çakirözer (Cumhuriyet), Hakan Gülseven (Yurt) and Nazli Ilicak (Bugün). The journalists are being sued by the President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, his wife Emine and son Bilal for violation of privacy and defamation following their…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) attended the final conference Strenghtening Journalism in Europe: Tools, Networking, Training, on 29-30 January, at the European University Institute, in Florence. Hosted by the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom (CMPF), the meeting discussed the challenges for journalism, the status of journalists across Europe and the actions at European and international level to ensure the safety of journalists. The speakers included Pier Luigi Parcu (CMPF/EUI), Elda Brogi (CMPF/EUI), Ricardo Gutiérrez (General secretary of the EFJ), Giovanni Melogli (International Alliance of journalists), Peggy Valcke (KULeuven), Aidan White (EJN), Olaf Steenfadt (Media consultant), Mario Tedeschini Lalli (Gruppo Espresso-Republica),…

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The European Federation of Journalists welcomes today the adoption of a report on the Protection of Media Freedom in Europe by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) but warns about the worrying trends on press freedom in Europe. “Although we welcome the adoption of the report, it highlighted again the worrying trends in Europe on press freedom particularly in countries where serious cases of press freedom violations are prominent,” said Mogens Blicher Bjerregård. “Countries highlighted in the report including Azerbaijan, Hungary, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine should step up their efforts in improving their press freedom records.” emphasised…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) welcomes the adoption of a new resolution by the European Parliament on freedom of expression in Turkey. The resolution adopted (551 votes in favour, 11 against and 31 abstentions) by members of the European Parliament (MEP) condemned the police raids on 14 December 2014 against Zaman newspaper and Samanyolu TV and the detention of a number of journalists and media representatives in Turkey. They recalled that a free and pluralistic press is the core of a democratic system and stressed that judicial independence was not respected in the country.”The government’s response to the allegations…

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…

New research published today shows that too many major lobby organisations, including financial lobbyists the City of London Corporation and Credit Suisse; major corporations such as Electrabel, Anglo American and General Motors; law firms such as Covington & Burling and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer; and lobby consultancies, are not listed in the lobby transparency register despite being active in EU lobbying.[1] The research by the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU)[2] (in which the European Federation of Journalists is a member)  is being published on the same day as the re-launch of the Commission-Parliament joint lobby transparency register. The…

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…