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LATEST UPDATE Please join our solidarity action and send your support letter to the Azerbaijani authorities in your country. Here’s the list of the Azerbaijani embassies around the world. The EFJ affiliate, the Norwegian Union of Journalists, responded to the EFJ call and sent a letter to the Norwegian Embassy of Azerbaijan calling on the authorities to release immediately investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova. The EFJ affiliate, SDP, the Polish Journalists Association, joined the protest and sent a letter to the Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Grzegorz Schetyna , in which they appeal for public disapproval of the proceeding by the Azerbaijani authorities. EFJ also…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the Polish Journalists Association (SDP) have welcomed the acquittal of two journalists, Jan Pawlicki and Tomasz Gzell who were arrested on 20 November during the coverage of a post-election demonstration in Warsaw. According to the EFJ affiliate, SDP, the police arrested TV reporter for TV Republika, Jan Pawlicki and the press photographer Tomasz Gzell of Polish Press Agency, in a demonstration where a group of activists entered and occupied the State Electoral Commission on 20 November. During the arrest, the journalists showed their press cards proving that they were not among the occupiers…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the Russian Union of Journalists  (RUJ) today have condemned the Russian authorities for forcing the independent TV channel, TV Dozhd, out from its premises in Moscow. According to the EFJ affiliate, RUJ, this is the second time in a few months thatTV Dozhd has been evicted from its premises due to its critical reporting on the authorities and political figures. Earlier this year, TV Dozhd was forced off the air when it was dropped from the schedules of several Russian cable TV services. It is considered as the last independent voice broadcasting on a public frequency in Russia.…

The European Federation of Journalists’ (EFJ) President, Mogens Blicher Bjerregård, and the International Federation of Journalists’ (IFJ) President, Jim Boumelha, signed today a “memorandum of understanding” on the creation of an online safety platform for journalists with the Council of Europe and three other media freedom partner agencies. The event took place during a conference jointly organized by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and the French Senate at the Palais du Luxembourg, in Paris. Reporters Without Borders (RWB), Article 19 and the Association of European Journalists (AEJ) also signed the memorandum. The conference has involved many…

(04.12.2014) English / Français en dessous – Freedom of expression must gain ground in Spain. This is the overall conclusion drawn by the International mission which is about to end in Madrid. For the first time, a consortium formed by the International Press Institute (IPI), Access Info Europe, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the World Association of Newspaper Publishers (WAN-IFRA ), the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and the Open Society Foundations (OSF) conducted a four-day mission, from 1 to 4 December, in Madrid and Barcelona, to evaluate the state of freedom of expression in…

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) are alarmed by the creation of a government body to control information and the media in Ukraine. According to media reports, the Ukrainian Parliament on Tuesday 2 December has passed a proposal to create a new body called the Ministry of Information Policy with the aim of “confronting Russia’s formidable propaganda machine”. The government has appointed Mr. Yuriy Stets, a close ally to President Petro Poroshenko and the head of the Information Security Department of the National Guard of Ukraine, to lead the ministry. The EFJ and…

(03.12.2014) La Fédération Européenne des Journalistes (FEJ) se joint à l’action groupée de ses syndicats-membres, les syndicats français de journalistes (SNJ, SNJ-CGT, CFDT journalistes) et le syndicat russe des journalistes (RUJ), et apporte son soutien aux journalistes travaillant sous droit local des bureaux de l’AFP en Russie et en Ukraine, dont les salaires ont été très sensiblement impactés par la chute du rouble. Les journalistes de ces bureaux ont demandé, avec l’appui des syndicats de l’AFP, une réévaluation de leurs conditions salariales avec un réajustement de la parité rouble-dollar pour faire face à la crise actuelle. La réponse de la…

The new issue of the EFJ Focus is now available in English, French and German. To subscribe, simply click HERE. If you missed the previous issues, see our archives.

The Swiss journalist and writer, Roman Berger, recalled his journey to Moscow at the EFJ Annual Meeting and the struggle for journalists and their unions to be independent in a country like Russia where the state controls everything. “Moscow is not a media desert with only pro-government media” – this is Berger’s conclusion. By Roman Berger   The delegate from Estonia has summed up the reason of his presence at the EFJ Annual Meeting: “Only when I found out after my research that the Russian Union of Journalists (RUJ) is a critical organisation, my union was willing to send me…

(1.12.2014) Affiliée de la FEJ, la Fédération espagnole des syndicats de journalistes (FeSP) a demandé, ce lundi, la démission du ministre espagnol de l’Intérieur, Jorge Fernández Díaz (Parti populaire). En cause: le maintien du projet de loi “Mordaza” sur la sécurité citoyenne, qui limite le droit des journalistes et des photographes à rendre compte des protestations publiques et des manifestations citoyennes. La FEJ, au même titre que de nombreuses autres organisations non gouvernementales (Amnesty International, Greenpeace, RSF…), a dénoncé la portée liberticide de ce projet de loi. Le Comité directeur fédéral de la FeSP, réuni dimanche à Madrid, a décidé…

(1.12.2014) – English / Français (en dessous) – The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has taken part in a three-day international mission on press freedom in Spain from 1 to 3 December, carried out by six international media freedom organisations including the EFJ, the International Press Institute (IPI), Access Info Europe, Open Society Foundation (OSF), Reporters without Borders (RSF) and the World Association of Newspaper Publishers (WAN-IFRA). The Mission is the first in its kind to find out the state of press freedom in Spain with media visits in Madrid and Barcelona in the wake of austerity crisis. “Like other countries in southern…

(Brussels, 28 November 2014) The First Vice-President of the European Commission, Mr. Frans Timmermans, has told a delegation from the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) that sustaining quality journalism and putting Europe’s media freedom back on track will be high on his agenda. Mr Timmermans, the First Vice-President who is also the EU Commissioner in charge of Better Regulation, Inter-Institutional Relations, Rule of Law and Charter of Fundamental Rights highlighted that the financial crisis in the European media industry is affecting journalists’ rights, jobs and journalism as a public good. “Preserving reliable and quality information is an existential question for…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has joined forces with the Council of Europe (CoE) and media freedom partner agencies, in launching a new online “rapid reaction” platform for journalists under threats. The platform would allow trusted media freedom partner agencies to post “alerts” on a public, centralised online platform when individual journalists are in danger or their work is under threat – opening the way for swift reactions from international organisations which uphold media freedom standards, such as the Council of Europe, OSCE Media Freedom Representative, EU and UN. The platform will be launched on 4 December in Paris…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) have today staged an action in Brussels to support its affiliate, the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ), whose members were accused of violating the law for their campaign action on 5 November, Stand up for Journalism Day. The EFJ and IFJ (in the picture) have mimicked the action taken by the BAJ members on 5 November in order to show the ridiculousness of the police charges. The charges were brought against the group after they took a picture in Vitebsk to support the Stand Up For Journalism…

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) today joined the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ), their affiliate in Belarus, in asking the national authorities to drop the charges against several journalists accused by the police of holding an unauthorised action. The charges were brought against the group after they took a picture in Vitebsk to support the Stand Up For Journalism Day of the EFJ held on 5 November. They are now waiting a court appearance. According to the open letter published by BAJ calling for the charges to be dropped, seven of its…