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…

From the 16th to the 20th of September 2023, member of the EFJ Steering Committee Anna Del Freo travelled to Ukraine. She accepted the invitation of Sergiy Tomilenko, another member of the EFJ Steering Committee and president of the National Union of Journalist of Ukraine (NUJU). She went to the country, invaded by Russia, together with Anteas Alessandria, an Italian association of volunteers that already promoted several projects to help Ukraine’s population. Thanks to the support of the association, Anna Del Freo was able to visit her colleagues, who live and work in a country at war. She also conveyed…

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 LocalMedia4Democracy project is supporting 17 small local media outlets. These outlets aim to serve the public interest in localities and regions where access to information has significantly decreased in the European Union. This grant scheme is operated by Journalismfund Europe and International Media Support (IMS), and co-funded by the European Commission.  The 17 media outlets are from Belgium (1), Croatia (1), France (2), Hungary (2), Ireland (1), Italy (1), Latvia (1), Lithuania (1), Poland (4), Portugal (1), Romania (1) and Spain (1). The total amount distributed among the 17 proposals was €524.265.  Check the list of the granted media…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) welcomes the publication on Wednesday 5 July 2023 of the Report on the Rule of Law by the European Commission. This fourth annual report again highlights the threats to media pluralism and the safety of journalists in EU Member States. This is further proof of the urgent need for a strong European Media Freedom Act and other measures to compel Member States to take action. The fourth EU Rule of Law report features specific recommendations targeted at individual member states. This year, 19 EU countries – compared to 16 last year – have been urged to take measures to…

The results of the 2023 Media Pluralism Monitor (MPM), which have just been published, confirm the decline in media pluralism in Europe. Of the 32 countries analysed (the 27 EU Member States and the five candidate countries), barely seven present a satisfactory situation. For the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), this new study confirms the urgent need to considerably strengthen the provisions of the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), which is currently being examined by the European Parliament. “This scientific study is a real setback for European governments, who have just watered down the EMFA when the evidence shows that…

At least four French media outlets have been targeted in mid-June by a massive disinformation campaign coming from Russia. Websites of Le Monde, 20 Minutes, Le Parisien and Le Figaro were replicated with fake content disseminating the Kremlin communications relayed by fake social media accounts.  Started in 2022, this digital interference campaign, nicknamed “Doppelgänger”, targeted other European news media outlets in Germany (Der Spiegel, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Bild) and in the United Kingdom (The Guardian). Similar fakes have also been seen in Ukraine, Latvia and Italy, amongst others. In addition, a new media called “Reliable Recent News”…

The Council of the European Union adopted today a common position (general approach) on the so-called Anti-SLAPP directive. This legislation, proposed by the European Commission in 2022, is meant to tackle the growing problem of strategic lawsuits targeting journalists, activists, and other public watchdogs across Europe. However, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) considers that the text, which has been considerably watered down, falls far short of the legislation’s original objective: to protect journalists and the right to information in the European Union. Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) are a form of legal harassment used to intimidate and silence…

23 May 2023 marked one year since the beginning of the strike at the Slovenian public broadcaster Radiotelevizija Slovenija (RTV Slovenia). The Journalists’ Union of Slovenia and the Coordination of Journalists’ Unions in RTV yesterday organised a public debate in support of the strike, to remind that the demand for a public broadcaster free from any interference is still valid. “What kind of RTV do we want?” was the theme of the public debate which invited RTV journalists and experts to reflect on the past year and the future. Solidarity messages were also sent from across borders, where journalists’ organisations, members…

Our Italian FNSI affiliates were visited today in Rome by Julian Assange‘s wife, Stella Morris. The Italian journalists’ union, at the initiative of its Campania branch, presented Julian Assange with an FNSI membership card. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) passed on the initiative to its affiliates in Europe: 19 of them decided to follow the Italian example and grant Julian Assange membership (or honorary membership) of their organisations. The EFJ and its affiliates once again call on the UK authorities to release Julian Assange. Here is the joint appeal delivered to Stella Morris in Rome this morning: We, the…

The MFRR Summit 2023 edition will take place online from the 29 – 31 March. The conference, “Press Freedom On The Line”, will focus on safety, media capture, the rule of law, and SLAPPs, the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR)’s main campaigns areas. A large range of panel discussions, live interviews, and keynote speeches with journalists, media freedom experts, policy-makers, and other stakeholders all working to defend press freedom will take place during these two days. Read the full program here. Day 1 (29 March) With an opening word by Věra Jourová, Vice President of the European Commission for Values and…

The partners of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) publish the latest edition of their Monitoring Report, analysing the state of press and media freedom throughout EU Member States and candidate countries in 2022. The Monitoring Report – produced by the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), the International Press Institute (IPI), and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) as part of the MFRR – gathers and analyses all media freedom violations recorded on Mapping Media Freedom throughout the year 2022.  War in Ukraine The current monitoring report starts with a thematic chapter on the war in Ukraine…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) sent on Friday its contribution to the Commission’s Rule of Law report, which reviews every year four key areas: justice systems, the anti-corruption framework, media pluralism and freedom, and checks and balances. The issues found in most of the countries surveyed are all related to media concentration and the increasing number of SLAPPs. The objective of this consultation – jointly carried out with the EFJ affiliates – is to feed the assessment of the Commission with factual information from the ground in each Member States. Read more of the EFJ’s contribution:   EFJ Contribution…

Following a decision of the General Meeting in Izmir (Turkey) in June 2022, members of the European Federation of Journalists decided to create a new expert group focusing on gender and diversity issues (Gender and Diversity Expert Group – GENDEG). The first in-person meeting took place on 12 January 2023. The group, chaired by Elena Tarifa (FeSP, Spain) and Lina Kushch (NUJU, Ukraine), consists of 13 other members from Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, France, Germany, Italy, Montenegro, Portugal, Switzerland. This first meeting launched the discussions around priorities, objectives, as well as an action plan for 2023. The safety of female…

The New York Times – Critics say a new media law signed by Zelensky could restrict press freedom in Ukraine (30.12.2022) The Kyiv Independent – Zelensky signs media law criticized by journalist groups as authoritarian (30.12.2022) Politico – Europe troubled but powerless over Twitter’s journalist ban (16.12.2022) EBU Video Talks: Watch Ricardo Gutiérrez, EFJ General Secretary, talking about the safety of journalists in Ukraine (14.12.2022) France24 – L’interdiction des médias russes par l’UE, “un dangereux précédent” (09.12.2022) La Croix – À Bruxelles, des Assises pour partager les « valeurs communes du journalisme » (25.11.2022) Euractiv – European Federation of Journalists chief slams press…

Italian freelance journalist Claudio Locatelli was injured by Russian fire on December 19 in the southern city of Kherson, while driving a car marked clearly as press, together with photojournalist Niccolò Celesti and their interpreter, Daniel. The International and European Federation of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) join their affiliate, the National Federation of the Italian Press (FNSI), in condemning the deliberate attack and recalling that Ukraine is the deadliest country for journalists and media workers in 2022 with 12 killed. On Wednesday, at the request of the Italian embassy, the Ukrainian authorities opened an investigation into a possible war crime. On December…