The final report on “Building independent media to counter political interference”, authored by Marc Gruber, was published by the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and funded by the Open Society Foundations (OSF). The report provides an overview of different threats to independent media in Europe and shares good practices and recommendations for an advocacy action plan. Below, a summary of the main points. Serving as the basis for this report are data collected through questionnaires circulated to EFJ affiliates, telephone interviews and EFJ activities, such as a series of webinars on the same topic. The participating countries, which are representative…

After two rounds of jury evaluation, the Stars4Media is proud to announce the 185 media professionals, grouped around 30 initiatives, involving 76 media organisations, selected as the beneficiaries of the programme’s second edition. The media partners will now put their projects and ideas into practice, benefitting from co-funding for their innovative proposals while cooperating across borders. The selected initiatives were chosen from the total of 101 submissions, across two Calls for Initiatives. The first call resulted in 17 winning initiatives. “From the 101 proposals received, many more than 30 were innovative and relevant, we hope some others will come back for future competitions’’  stated  prof. Luciano…

The European Commission published its second EU-wide report on the Rule of Law, with a Communication assessing the situation in the EU as well as in dedicated country chapters on each Member State. The report examines new developments since the first report last September and takes into account the impact of the pandemic. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) welcomes that the report tackles the deteriorating situation of journalists’ safety as well as obstacles such as lack of transparency or political interference and calls on the Member States to improve the conditions and legislation for media workers. The methodology behind…

On 23 and 24 June, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) organised a two-day webinar on trends, skills and training in journalism as part of the Trust and quality in journalism project. Invited speakers addressed what journalistic skills are needed to thrive in the digital world and how media companies and journalists’ organisations can provide support to journalists. Day 1 The first day’s speakers were media professionals from various fields who shared their insights on the latest trends in journalism and skills required. Monique Hofmann, General Secretary of the German journalists’ union, dju in ver.di, opened the webinar by emphasising…

The Lazio regional administrative court issued a ruling on 18 June 2021 ordering the investigative programme Report, of Italian public television RAI, to reveal the sources of the journalists who produced the report “Vassalli, valvassori e valvassini”, which was broadcast on 26 October 2020, on RAI3 channel. The investigation concerns the management of public funds in the Lombardy region and the Milanese lawyer Andrea Mascetti, a close associate of the Lega party. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins Italian journalists’ organisations FNSI and Usigrai in denouncing this blatant violation of the confidentiality of journalistic sources. The court’s ruling grants…

The General Secretary of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), Ricardo Gutiérrez, was invited today to speak about the situation of journalists at the Council of Europe Ministerial Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Freedom of Expression and Media Freedom. The EFJ again called on Council of Europe member states to fulfil their international commitments to protect journalists. “All over Europe, media freedom is declining,” said Gutiérrez.” All over Europe, the working conditions of journalists are deteriorating. (…) The situation is getting worse, year after year. In the last six years, 33 journalists have been killed in Europe while doing their job.…

The journalistic profession is rapidly changing as a result of the emergence of new technologies. Journalists are expected to acquire new skills and do multi-tasking. They have to be an all-in-one journalist, photographer and camera operator. At the same time, they are caught up in the 24-hours news cycle and lack the time to take part in training in order to learn new skills. Instead, most of them are learning these new skills while performing their jobs. Media companies are less and less interested in offering training for their journalists due to budget cuts. How can we solve this dilemma…

On 23 and 24 June, the EFJ is holding another series of webinars as part of the “Trust and Quality in Journalism” Project. For the agenda and more information, click here. You can register for Day 1 here and for Day 2 here. Below, the pictures and short bios of our experts: Day 1 Jan Siebert holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) with a focus on Human Resource Management and Consulting. He joined Deutsche Welle (DW) in 2016 and is responsible for designing, producing and implementing training programs and e-learning courses and supporting the programming department in strategic personnel…

After a year in lockdown, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and its members have observed a clear deterioration of press freedom in Europe. The facts are indisputable: according to the annual report of the Council of Europe’s Platform for the Safety of Journalists published on Wednesday 28 April 2021, 201 alerts were recorded, an increase of 40% compared to 2019. In particular, the number of physical attacks on journalists and media workers, as well as the cases of harassment and intimidation reached a record level. Nevertheless, journalists’ trade unions and professional associations have stepped up their work throughout 2020 to…

The European and International Federations of Journalists (EFJ-IFJ) contributed on Wednesday to the launch of the annual report of the Council of Europe Platform to promote the protection of journalism and safety of journalists. The report shows a very serious deterioration of media freedom in 2020 across Europe. The Council of Europe Platform today published its annual report, “Wanted! Real Action for Media Freedom in Europe.” The report calls on the Council of Europe and its 47 member states to show political will to address deteriorating press freedom in the region, based on an overview of media freedom violations reported to…

From July to October 2020, attacks on media freedom in Europe took many forms, as the Media Freedom Rapid Response’s second monitoring report documents. Besides anti-lockdown demonstrations and online harassment, the impact of legal actions (SLAPPs) contributed to a hostile climate for journalists and media workers. Find all the details in the second MFRR-report. The four-month snapshot of media threats in EU member states and Candidate countries was produced by the Media Freedom Rapid Response partners, European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and International Press Institute (IPI), with support from the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF). The 114…

The solidarity meeting with the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) organised online by the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) brought together 41 representatives of 29 national journalists’ organisations from 22 European countries (1) on Thursday. The participants unanimously condemned the increasing repression of journalists by the dictatorial regime of the illegitimate President Lukashenko. They demanded the immediate release of the 11 journalists imprisoned in Belarus for doing their job. The EFJ President, Mogens Blicher Bjerregård, called on EFJ affiliates to intensify actions in support of BAJ. Many participants sent letters of protest to the Belarusian embassies in their countries, as…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins partners of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) to express serious concern over the €10 million euro lawsuit launched against Italian news magazine L’Espresso by a former Vatican Cardinal over its reporting on his alleged involvement in a corruption scandal involving the use of Holy See funds. The lawsuit hinges on a report L’Espresso published on 24 September 2020 which broke the news that investigations by the Italian Finance Police had implicated the cardinal in the embezzlement of €100,000 of Vatican money to a charity organisation controlled by his brother in the Cardinal…

On 22 January 2021, Jean Chéritel, the CEO of the Chéritel group, a fruit and vegetable wholesaler in the Brittany region of France, dropped his defamation action against freelance investigative journalist, Inès Léraud. The legal threat related to Léraud’s investigation, published in Basta! on 26 March 2019, which shed light on alleged illegal practices of the company. The manner by which the lawsuit was dropped echoes a previous lawsuit brought against Léraud by Christian Buson, a Breton agri-food business owner, who also dropped his lawsuit a few days before the start of the trial in January 2020. While the MFRR welcomes the dropping…

The Blanquerna School of Communication and International Relations and the four journalism schools in French-speaking Belgium today released two reports looking at journalists’ and journalism students’ perceptions of self-regulation bodies, ethical standards and challenges they face in the digital age. The findings show that more dialogue and awareness is needed to apprehend ethics in today’s journalism. The Blanquerna School of Communication and International Relations collected data on the perception of media councils by working journalists and how they adapt themselves to the challenges in the digital age. More than 400 working journalists from Austria, Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy,…

The Geneva-based non governmental organisation Press Emblem Campaign (PEC) said yesterday that more than 600 journalists died of COVID-19 in 59 countries worldwide since March 2020. In Europe, Italy has taken the heaviest death toll with 40 confirmed victims in the year, followed by 17 in Turkey, 13 in Great Britain, 8 in Russia, 6 in Spain, and 5 in France. In particular freelance journalists and photographers are in the forefront. The PEC identified at least one death in other European countries such as Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany and Switzerland. One of the fatalities is Italian journalist Livia Giustolisi, who was the…