On 16 October 2017, Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was murdered by a car bomb in the town of Bidnija, near her family home. One year after, the International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) deplore the lack of independent public inquiry and the unwillingness of the Maltese government to take concrete action to end impunity around this crime. Daphne Caruana Galizia was a 53 year-old prominent investigative journalist who kept a blog labelled Running Commentary, one of the most widely read websites in Malta. The journalist had been targeted and sued many times for her writings in which…

Ukrainian journalist Pavel Sheremet was murdered on 20 July 2016. On the second anniversary of his death, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) believes that the investigation into his assassination failed to look properly into who committed and commissioned the crime. “Two years after his assassination, we should consider the journalist’s murder as an impunity case. That is why the European Federation of Journalists asked the Council of Europe platform for the protection of journalism to change the status of the alert on Pavel Sheremet’s killing to the category of “impunity”. Ukraine will become one of the worst European States…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has backed its affiliate the Trade Union of Media of Montenegro (SMCG) in demanding the authorities in Montenegro to urgently “secure the conditions for carrying out an independent investigation of assassination of Dusko Jovanovic, the editor-in-chief of newspaper “Dan”. It has passed 14 years since our colleague Jovanovic was murdered, and state authorities failed to detect, find and arrest the perpetrators and masterminds of the most grave violation against journalists in the history of Montenegro. Dusko Jovanovic was killed on May 27, 2004 in front of the editorial offices of his newspaper in Podgorica. After 14…

On 2 November 2017, the EFJ Vice President Nadezda Azgikhina wrote a letter from Russia. The letter focused on fighting against hate and impunity towards journalists. Here, the EFJ publishes this letter: The first conference devoted to Impunity in Russia took place just before the Moscow IFJ Congress in 2007. It focused mainly on the assassination of Anna Politkovskaya, the journalist murdered on 7 October 2006, and focused on other colleagues who were murdered too. For the first time, a list of deceased Russian journalists, prepared by Glasnost Defense Foundation, was presented to the international professional community. It consisted of…

Impunity is when threats, attacks and crimes against journalists go unpunished. It results in a high level of fear, intimidation, censorship and self-censorship that undermines press freedom, the public right to know and leaves victims and their relatives powerless. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins the International Federation of Journalists’ (IFJ) campaign to #endimpunity, which aims at holding governments and de facto governments accountable for their impunity records and denouncing any crimes targeting journalists that remain unpunished. Murder is the highest form of these crimes but all attacks targeting journalists that remain unpunished must be denounced. In Europe, the EFJ…

Following two cases of impunity and careless investigation in Ukraine, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) renews its calls for an end to impunity for crimes against journalists and action to protect the safety of media professionals in the country. The first case involves a TV crew of local TV station attacked in front of police officers – who didn’t intervene – on 10 June 2016 in Berdyansk Zaporizhia region. Journalists went to cover the illegal seizure of a hotel building, when the unidentified men in a military uniform beaten up reporter Volodymyr Holovatiy, took away the camera and seized…

by Mogens Blicher Bjerregård, EFJ President 827 journalists were killed during the last decade and paid the ultimate price for exercising their job. An appalling and worrying fact documented by the biannual report from the Director General at UNESCO. The safety of journalists and fighting impunity was on top of the agenda during the UNESCO IPDC Council meeting, 17th-18th November 2016 in Paris. IPDC is an UNESCO program for safety of journalists, press freedom and media development. As the representative of Denmark, I delivered the following speech: Eight hundred and twenty seven, 827 journalists, have been killed since 2006. This is…

Today only one out of 10 killings in the media is investigated. Get involved in the IFJ #endimpunity campaign 2015, from 2 to 23 November 2015. Many thanks to contributors! #EndImpunity Remember the UN End of Impunity Day today @coe @Europarl_da @IFJGlobal https://t.co/BRjagQBYtw #journosafety #PressFreedom — Mogens B. Bjerregård (@mogensbb) November 2, 2015 IFJ launches 2015 global campaign to end impunity for crimes against journalists https://t.co/5PagHlA2ni pic.twitter.com/1ElMaSfN50 — Anthony Bellanger (@abellanger49) October 21, 2015 More than 700 journalists have been killed in the last 10 years. #EndImpunity https://t.co/tyLFaw1G0r pic.twitter.com/HuX8xrf5xq — UNESCO (@UNESCO) November 2, 2015 President @PutinRF_Eng, on @UN Day…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has joined the IFJ #endimpunity campaign. We call on the European journalists and the EFJ partners to participate in the ceremony organised by the IFJ today, from 16:00 to 16:30, at the Residence Palace’s patio, in Brussels, in partnership with the Association Générale des Journalistes Professionnels de Belgique (AGJPB) and the United Nations. 2 November 2015 will mark the second commemoration of the killing in Kidal, Mali, of Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon, RFI reporters. To date, the criminal investigation launched by French and Malian authorities has yet to identify the killers and bring them to…

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…

The EFJ in cooperation with its affiliate  the Trade Union of Media of Montenegro (TUMM), sent letters to the President, the Prime Minister and other high officials of Montenegro to express its concerns about the increased lack of respect for journalists’ and media workers’ right by the employers on decent salaries, fair remuneration for freelances, trade union rights and the rights to collective bargaining in Montenegro and the region. The EFJ draws particular attention to the case of journalist Tufik Softic who because of his investigative reporting, was brutally beaten eight years ago. Two years ago, a bomb was thrown…

Commemorating 25 years since the brutal murder of Serbian journalist Slavko Ćuruvija, the European Federation of Journalists joins the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) partners and the SafeJournalists Networkto condemn the continued impunity surrounding his assassination and demand accountability for all acts of violence committed against journalists in Serbia. The recent acquittal of security officers accused of Ćuruvija’s murder, as well as the escalating attacks against journalists in Novi Sad, underscore the urgent need for authorities to act and protect press freedom in Serbia. Ćuruvija, an esteemed editor and publisher, was fatally shot in front of his home in Belgrade on 11 April 1999.…

Three years have elapsed since the assassination of Giorgos Karaivaz, a veteran Greek crime reporter. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) today joins the undersigned members of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) to commemorate his death and renew demands on the Greek authorities to redouble their efforts to bring the perpetrators to justice. Giorgos Karaivaz was one of Greece’s most prominent investigative journalists specialising in organised crime and police reporting when he was gunned down in broad daylight outside his Athens home on 9 April 2021. The execution was conducted by professional hitmen who escaped on a motorbike and…

The escalation of threats and violence suffered by journalists in Novi Sad, northern Serbia, has reached an unprecedented level in the past fortnight. The undersigned organisations urge the Serbian authorities to conduct an immediate and thorough investigation into the persistent attacks on journalists and ensure that perpetrators are prosecuted accordingly.  In just ten days, no fewer than seven journalists have faced threats and assaults in the city of Novi Sad alone. Whether it is physical assaults, verbal abuse, online harassment or death threats, the ability of Serbian journalists to do their job is severely compromised and their safety is at…

By EFJ Director Renate Schroeder, 7 March 2024 (originally published on Social Europe)   It is a truism to say democracy relies on a free press. But in a sea of misinformation that is because it’s a fact. Europe’s information ecosystem is at a crossroads. Misinformation and filter bubbles, oligarchic media capture and attacks on public-service media, indeed unprecedented attacks on journalists amid their subjection to precarious working conditions—all are leading to a brain drain from the industry. This could have a devastating impact on the quality of journalism and media pluralism, already threatened by ‘click-bait’ profit-seeking and local news ‘deserts’ deemed…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) today launched its Manifesto ahead of the 2024 EU Elections. With the motto “Stand up for journalism as a public good”, the EFJ and its affiliates aim to raise awareness about the need for a strong European Union, committed to working for trade union and human rights, the rule of law, media freedom and media pluralism. “The EFJ is calling upon future EU policymakers to stand up for journalism and journalists in Europe,” said EFJ President Maja Sever. “In the past years, the EU has done more than ever to create a safer and…