A consortium of seven European organisations, including the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), is proud to announce that it has been awarded a substantial grant from the European Commission to organise the European Festival of Journalism and Media Literacy. The festival marks a significant departure from previous initiatives in the field, promising to bring fresh perspectives and insights to the forefront of media discourse. The inaugural edition will take place in Florence in March 2024. Coordinated by the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom (CMPF), the festival sets out to become the go-to platform for dialogue and exchange, connecting journalistic…

At the conclusion of their press freedom mission to Warsaw from 11-13 September, partner organisations of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) declared that the media and journalists in Poland are facing unprecedented challenges including legal threats, financial precarity, political pressure, regulatory capture and growing polarisation. The delegation, comprised of representatives of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), ARTICLE 19 Europe, the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), Free Press Unlimited (FPU) and International Press Institute (IPI), met with editors, journalists, regulators, civil society groups, lawyers, the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights and the Ministry of…

AI-generated disinformation is a growing concern, especially in an age of general mistrust in the news. Disinformation continues to spread on social media platforms and raises various problems: the influence of malicious actors such as bots; creation of memes, videos or other visual content with the intention of changing opinions; generation of incorrect text that appears convincing, and more. Young people are generally enthusiastic about using Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a UN report found a high level of trust in AI and a positive attitude. However, most do not deeply understand how it works. At the same time, German magazine…

EFJ Director Renate Schroeder wrote about the European Media Freedom Act in an article originally published in Social Europe. Read the article in its entirety here:  Amid a sea of online misinformation, in a ‘polycrisis’ world reliable public-interest journalism has never been more essential. Today, the sustainability of free media is threatened in many European Union countries. Pluralism is lacking, with the rise of the platforms to information monopolies accelerating the shrinkage of the space for independent and public-interest journalism. Media are increasingly captured and controlled by politicians—or subjected to ‘fake news’ smears in the style of the former United…

The Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Pluralism (CMPF) published their preliminary study, “News deserts in Europe: assessing risks for local and community media in the 27 EU Member States”. The study, carried out as part of the Local Media for Democracy (LM4D) project, illustrated that one of the main causes for the desertification of accessible independent media throughout Europe is the lack of adequate and sustainable funding for media organisations. For the scope of this project, and in line with the methodology adopted by the Media Pluralism Monitor, the CMPF developed a comprehensive and Europe-specific definition of news deserts…

To the EU Council, the European Parliament and the European Commission On behalf of media freedom, journalists and human rights organizations across Europe, we call upon the European Union institutions to negotiate a strong and effective European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) that can counter media capture and protect editorial independence and media pluralism across Europe. Media freedom is in crisis in many EU countries as populist governments and oligarchs collaborate to misuse powers of the state to bolster propaganda and drown out independent media critics. Increasingly, public broadcasters are turned into propaganda platforms while media regulators are captured by political…

The undersigned organisations call on the incoming Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union to place media freedom and human rights front and centre of relations with the newly re-elected Government of Turkey. The May elections, which saw a parliamentary majority for the AKP and its allies and the re-election of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as President, took place against a backdrop of a media landscape dominated by pro-government outlets, the smothering of independent voices and the repression of critical journalism. Over the past two decades, Turkey’s government has captured over 90% of the media landscape, including direct control…

On 7-8 June 2023, several European journalists’ trade unions met in Madrid with their counterparts representing actors, musicians, translators, media workers and other cultural figures to discuss collective bargaining for atypical workers. The conference was the final event of the Atypical Workers project, of which the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) is a partner, together with the International Federation of Actors (FIA), the International Federation of Musicians (FIM) and UNI-MEI. The goal of this EU-funded project, which started in 2021, was to promote the rights of atypical workers in various sectors and improve the capacity of trade unions in servicing…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins journalists and press freedom, civil society, trade unions, and digital rights groups in a letter to Sabine Verheyen, Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Culture and Education (CULT), in expressing concerns about several changes in the CULT’s report on the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA).  Dear Sabine Verheyen, We, the undersigned journalists, press freedom, civil society, trade unions, and digital rights groups, are writing to you with regard to the proposed amendments to the draft  European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) you have written as the Rapporteur on behalf of the Committee on Culture…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) is a partner of the ReMeD project on Resilient Media for Democracy in the Digital Age which was kicked off on 31 March 2023 in Pamplona, Spain. Funded by Horizon Europe and coordinated by the University of Navarra, in partnership with six European universities, ReMeD aims to address the current challenges to a healthy relationship between the media and democracy. In particular, the project will produce policy recommendations to guide European digital media legislation, including the Digital Services Act, the Digital Markets Act, and the upcoming Media Freedom Act. With an interdisciplinary approach and…

Resilient Media for Democracy in the Digital Age (ReMeD) aims to tackle existing challenges to a healthy relationship between media and democracy, by taking a bold approach to improve relations between citizens, media and digital technologies. With an interdisciplinary approach and an innovative methodology that combines qualitative and quantitative methods, ReMeD gathers, analyzes, compares and contrasts data on professional journalists, alternative media content producers and citizens operating in technologically mediated configurations, and on the media organizations, market structures and national and international regulations that underpin media production, circulation and consumption in the contemporary media landscape. ReMeD works closely with all…

Struggling local, regional and community media in Europe is to receive a financial boost of over 2 million euros through a new EU-funded project “Local Media for Democracy” (#localmedia4democracy). It aims to revive the local media landscape in the news desert areas with measures to build resilience, independence, and sustainability by improving their capacity in innovation, business strategies, and audience engagement.  The project will be led by the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) with a consortium of partners, the Centre for Media Freedom and Pluralism (CMPF), International Media Support (IMS) and Journalismfund.eu. It will inject €1,200,000 financial support through a…

The existence of a vibrant and independent local media ecosystem serving the public interests of its local communities is a cornerstone for our democratic societies. They are the key to empowering citizens to grasp and exercise their rights in the communities where they live. And they are better placed to gain trust and engagement from their native audience and to confront dis/misinformation. However, the very existence of these media has become uncertain across different parts of the European Union. The robustness of a region’s or community’s local media ecosystem also serves as a meaningful indicator of a state’s vulnerability to…

Between 15 and 18 November 2022, partners of the Council of Europe’s Platform on Safety of Journalists will visit Kosovo and Albania to assess the current state of media freedom and protection for journalists in the two countries. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) will join the mission along with ARTICLE 19, the Committee to Protect Journalists, the European Broadcasting Union, the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom, the International Press Institute and Reporters Without Borders. Partner organisations have requested meetings with respective Prime Ministers, ministers, representatives of parliamentary media committees, judicial authorities, local officials, regulatory bodies, public broadcasters…

Media employers have to do more to fulfil their duty of care for journalists’ safety, especially freelance and female journalists who are more vulnerable, concluded in a safety workshop held by the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the Dutch Association of Journalists (NVJ) in the Hilversum Media Park on 4 and 5 July.  The workshop, attended by more than 40 EFJ members, legal experts, journalists and media representatives, highlighted the increasing dangers to journalists, both physical and online, with little awareness from media employers of these threats and a flagrant lack of resources to ensure their safety. According to…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) is co-signing together with other civil society organisations a policy brief on the upcoming European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), as the European Commission is currently finalising the draft proposal. We thank the European Commission for taking on this task and the ambition it has to deal with fundamental threats to Europe’s media landscape. We take this opportunity, as a coalition of journalists, media freedom groups and human rights groups, to develop our statement of 9th May and to address issues around the European single market, media ownership and transparency of economic relations with the…