On 23 July 2024, a coalition of 13 international and European organisations representing journalists, creators, authors, artists, performers and creative workers, including the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), sent a letter to newly elected Members of the European Parliament on the impact of Artificial Intelligence on the European creative community. Find the letter below. Brussels, 23 July 2024 Dear Member of the European Parliament, We are writing to you on behalf of a coalition of organisations representing the collective voice of hundreds of thousands of writers, translators, performers, composers, songwriters, screen directors, screenwriters, visual artists, journalists, and other creative workers.…

The undersigned Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) consortium partners express deep alarm over the passage of new media law by the Kosovo Parliament this month. We share local and international concerns that this law does not meet international standards on free expression and threatens media freedom, including by granting the authorities greater control over media regulation. The MFRR has previously joined civil society organizations in Kosovo in raising alarms over the law for the Independent Media Commission (IMC). Critics have seen the proposed legislation as an attack on the media, expressing worries that the ruling party may use this law to censor them. Now, this risks becoming a…

On 19 July, a Russian court has sentenced US-Russian journalist Alsu Kurmasheva to six and a half years in prison for spreading so-called “false information” about the military. Her employer, RFE/RL, and the European and International Federations of Journalists (EFJ-IFJ) slammed the trial as a “mockery of justice”. The EFJ, the IFJ and their Russian affiliate JMWU are calling for her immediate release. Kurmasheva, an editor with the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) outlet in Prague, was convicted on Friday – the same day a separate Russian court sentenced US journalist Evan Gershkovich for 16 years on espionage charges,…

The undersigned organisations, including members of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), express deep concerns about the physical attacks targeting Melita Vrsaljko, a journalist working for the Croatian fact-checking website Faktograf.hr and the Climate Portal. Vrsaljko was assaulted twice in the same week, in the street and at her home in Nadin due to her journalistic work. We urge the Croatian authorities not to let these unprecedented attacks go unpunished. On 15 July 2024, journalist Melita Vrsaljko and a freelance camera operator were working on a documentary co-produced by the Climate Portal, which focused on climate change and waste. While…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and its Russian affiliate JMWU firmly condemn the decision of Russia’s Sverdlovsk Oblast court to sentence US reporter Evan Gershkovich to 16 years in a high-security prison on charges of alleged espionage. Russian authorities did not produce evidence to support the accusations against him. The EFJ considers this trial behind closed doors and this sentence to be an act of pure political repression. We demand Evan Gershkovich’s release, as well as that of the 139 journalists imprisoned in Europe. Gershkovich has reported from Russia for many years and has repeatedly received official accreditation from…

Following Ursula von der Leyen’s re-appointment as President of the European Commission, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), together with media, press and journalists organisations, sent a letter to the newly elected President. The letter aims at addressing crucial topics regarding press freedom, safety of journalists and EU mechanisms such as the European Media Freedom Act or the Digital Services Act, which the coalition wants to see among the political priorities of the Commission’s next term.    

At least thirty Ukrainian journalists, -6 women and 24 men-, and media workers remain illegally detained in Russia, according to data from the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU), an affiliate of the International and the European Federations of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ). The IFJ and the EFJ have joined their affiliate’s campaign in urging the Russian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release all unfairly imprisoned Ukrainian journalists.  Nearly two and a half years after the start of the war in Ukraine, in February 2022, there is no sign that the violence will end, and the list of Ukrainian journalists in…

Cyprus is proposing an amendment to its criminal code that will introduce prison sentences of up to five years for anyone caught spreading “fake news” or writing “offensive” comments. The International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) join their Cypriot affiliate, the Union of Cyprus Journalists (UCJ-ESK), in denouncing this criminalisation of fake news and its chilling effect on press freedom. A legislative amendment concerning the criminalisation of the dissemination of false news, threats, insults and the dissemination of obscene photos and images on the Internet will be presented to the plenary session of the Cypriot Parliament in September. The…

The Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) partners strongly condemn the cyber disinformation campaign against the press freedom organisation Reporters Without Borders (RSF). The attacks have been orchestrated by the Paris-based communications agency “Progressif Media”, whose minor stakeholder is the Vivendi Group, a French mass-media holding company controlled by media tycoon Vincent Bolloré. The MFRR stands in full solidarity with RSF and urges a swift and thorough investigation into the disinformation campaign. On 4 July, RSF revealed a two-month investigation, which included information from an internal Progressif Media document entitled “Vivendi Report”. This document detailed attacks aimed at portraying the press…

On 29 June, as journalist Thomas Dietrich was about to publish an investigation entitled “When Macron protects Marine Le Pen’s financier” for online media OFF Investigation, he received a chilling threat of violence sent on the Whatsapp instant messaging network. The International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) and their affiliates in France, SNJ, SNJ-CGT, CFDT-Journalistes, strongly condemn these actions, apparently aimed at preventing Dietrich from publishing his work. We call on the authorities to investigate the threats against him. Thomas Dietrich, an investigative journalist specialising in “Françafrique” (France’s sphere of influence over former French colonies in sub-Saharan Africa), has…

More than 60 media, journalists and civil society organizations, including the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ),  have signed an open letter urging Israel to give journalists independent access to Gaza. The organizations – which include the EFJ, Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, BBC, CNN, The Guardian, The New York Times, and The Washington Post – point out that no independent media access to Gaza has been permitted since the start of the war, increasing the pressure on domestic journalists, and creating a space for mis- and disinformation to flourish. “More than 100 journalists have been killed since the start of the war and…

Come to Voices as an awardee!  The Voices Awards are back for the second edition of the Voices Festival, the brand-new itinerant event co-funded by the European Commission to celebrate Journalism and Media Literacy in Europe. Free registration is already open for this next edition which will take place in Zagreb, Croatia from 25 February to 1 March 2025.  The awards aim at recognising the works of journalists that best convey the values and goals of the Voices Festival, with a competition rewarding innovative ideas and change-makers around journalism. Each winner will receive a €1,000 monetary prize. Find below the…

Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office on Wednesday has labeled The Moscow Times news outlet an “undesirable organisation”, outlawing its activities inside Russia and leaving anybody who cooperates with them open to criminal prosecution. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and its Russian affiliate JMWU strongly condemn this new censorship action, which aims to invisibilise and criminalise independent voices. “A decision has been taken to declare the activities of The Moscow Times, a foreign non-government organisation, undesirable on the territory of the Russian Federation,” the office of Russia’s Prosecutor General said in a statement. It said the outlet was “aimed at discrediting…

The undersigned media freedom, human rights and journalists’ groups call on the new European Commission and the new European Parliament to strengthen their commitment to protecting journalists’ rights and freedom of expression in their relations with Turkey. Relations between the European Union and Turkey have been at an impasse for several years with Turkey occupying the status of an applicant country in a process that has long since stalled. The EU institutions need to find a way to reinvigorate relations and ensure that the protection of human rights is front and centre of those relations. Over the past two decades, Turkey’s…

Serbian authorities should not extradite Belarusian journalist Andrey Gniot to face criminal charges in Belarus and release him immediately. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), its affiliates in Serbia (UNS, NUNS, Sinos and Nezavisnost) and several journalists’ organisations in Serbia (Association of Independent Electronic Media, Independent Association of Journalists of Vojvodina) call on the Serbian Minister of Justice, Maja Popović, to oppose his extradition. Serbian authorities detained Gniot upon his arrival in the country on October 30, 2023, based on a September 21 Interpol arrest warrant issued by the Belarusian Interpol bureau, for alleged tax evasion charges. In December 2023,…

On 5 July 2024, the Athens Court of First Instance will hold the start of the trial of suspects accused of murdering Greek investigative journalist Giorgos Karaivaz in 2021. The trial which was initially scheduled on 26 May 2024, must conclude by 28 October this year, when the suspects’ pre-trial detention ends. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and its Greek affiliates (JUADN, ESIEMTH, PFJU, PEPU – ESPIT) welcome the steps taken to prosecute Karaivaz’s murder and urge authorities to conduct an independent and transparent investigation to ensure that all perpetrators are held to account, including those who ordered the…