A Ukrainian organisation working on national security published thousands of personal details of journalists on its website on 7 May claiming the journalists had accreditation with pro-Russian separatists in the eastern Ukraine. It further accused them of ‘co-operating with terrorist organisations’ and violating Ukraine law. The European and International Federation of Journalists (EFJ/IFJ) support their Ukrainian affiliates the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) and the Independent Media Trade Union of Ukraine (IMTUU) in denouncing this leak which endangers journalists’ safety and urge the Ukrainian government to bring those responsible to justice. The private contact details published by Myrotvorets (“The Peacemaker”…

This blog is based on a presentation given by Ricardo Gutiérrez, General Secretary of the European Federation of Journalists, at the University of London, 1st March 2016, as part of ‘Journalists & Commanders. Reporting in times of war, tensions and crises’.  ——————– All wars are dirty. But wars, for journalists, are fascinating. War is action. Power. Flesh, blood and guts. War reporting is also a democratic requirement. Nothing is worse than a conflict covered far from the battlefield, such as some of the war reporting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Covering a war is always challenging for journalists because of the the risk…

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) today strongly condemned the Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s decision to ban at least 38 international journalists and bloggers from the country for one year. The President’s decree, which was signed yesterday and published on the presidential website, names 388 people representing an “actual or potential threat to national interests, national security, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.” The IFJ and the EFJ call on the Ukrainian government to remove the journalists’ names from this list. Poroshenko said the list targeted people involved in Russia’s 2014 annexation of…

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), today joined Ukraine’s journalists in commemorating the 15th Anniversary of the murder of Ukraine investigative journalist Georgy Gongadze. On 16 September 2000, Georgy Gongadze’s body was left beheaded in the forest outside Kiev. He was killed as punishment for his exposures of government corruption and the case sparked worldwide condemnation and a global campaign for the prosecution of his killers. After years of investigations, four former officers of the SBU were eventually convicted of Gongadze’s murder, but the people responsible for ordering it remain free. “Today we…

Index on Censorship, the European Federation of Journalists and Reporters Without Borders are delighted to announce the expansion and redesign of Mapping Media Freedom, which records threats to journalists across Europe, and which will now also cover Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. First launched in May 2014, the map documents media freedom violations throughout the European Union and neighbouring countries including the Balkans and Turkey. More than 700 reports were logged on the map in its first year, lifting the lid on the everyday threats to media freedom that have previously gone largely unreported or undocumented. “Mapping Media Freedom has highlighted…

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) have today launched a report on the safety of journalists in Ukraine in 2014 during a conflict reporting conference organized by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Vienna. The report was prepared by IFJ/EFJ affiliates, the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU), the Independent Media Trade Union of Ukraine (IMTUU) and the Russian Union of Journalists (RUJ) in a joint IFJ/EFJ initiative to document the lessons and experience of the Ukraine conflict for journalists. The handbook details the range and scope of restrictions…

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its regional organisation, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), have together backed a journalists’ strike in Kiev in early April after the TVi broadcaster ceased paying salaries to 300 employees. The Independent Media Trade Union of Ukraine (IMTUU), an affiliate of the IFJ and the EFJ, held the demonstration on 2 April in support of the journalists where it demanded the management to pay the media staff. According to TVi staff, the channel, which stopped broadcasting on 23rd March, recently changed ownership to David Zhvania’s and the new management ceased the salary payments.…

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) pledged their support to the ongoing dialogue between the Ukraine and Russian journalists unions under the auspices of Dunja Mijatovic, Representative on Freedom of the Media for the OSCE. IFJ President, Jim Boumelha, participated in the fifth Ukraine / Russian dialogue meeting in Vienna 25 February, where the Russian Union of Journalists, the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine and the Independent Media Trade Union of Ukraine met to review the situation facing journalists attempting to report the conflict in Eastern Ukraine. “The conflict, violence and war…

(20.11.2014) The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has carried out a mission to Ukraine on 6 – 8 November to investigate the situation facing journalists reporting in conflict areas. Yannis Kotsifos, a member of the EFJ Steering Committee has visited the EFJ affiliates (NUJU and IMTUU) in Kiev to understand the challenges they face in protecting their journalists. ” Since the political crisis in Ukraine broken out in November 2013, journalists have been at the heart of these events covering violent demonstrations, clashes and armed conflict. They have been shot at, assaulted, kidnapped, arrested, abused and killed. They have been…

            NATIONAL UNION OF JOURNALISTS OF UKRAINE – NUJU Address Khreschatyk 27 A, 252001 Kyiv Staff Sergiy Tomilenko (President) – stomilenko@gmail.com Bush Lina Vladimirovna (First Secretary) – nsju.org@gmail.com Mykhaylichenko Yuliya Mykolayivna – spilka@nsju.org Phone +380 44 224 52 09 Email admin@nsju.org Website Twitter http://nsju.org/ @nsju_org   INDEPENDENT MEDIA TRADE UNION OF UKRAINE – IMTUU Address Khreschatyk Street 27-A, Office 25 01001 Kiev Chairman Serhiy Shturkhetsky – chairman@nmpu.org.ua Phone +380 50 356 57 58 Email vstup@nmpu.org.ua / sekretar@nmpu.org.ua Website Twitter http://npmu.org.ua @profspilka_nmpu

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), 38 European journalists’ unions and more than 20 press freedom NGOs today sent a letter to the European Union’s top diplomats calling for the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement and for sanctions against those responsible for Israel’s war crimes and repeated violations of international law. The letter was drafted on the initiative of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). It is co-signed among others by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Human Rights Watch (HRW), IFEX, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF)… Here is our joint…

Update (20/08/2024): The EFJ condemns the death threats against the two journalists by pro-Russian circles in Italy, in particular the writer Nicolai Lilin. ——————————- The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins its Italian affiliate FNSI in strongly condemning Russian threats to prosecute Italian journalists covering the Ukrainian counter-offensive in the Kursk region, in Russia. The EFJ considers that these intimidations amount to censorship and are aimed at preventing public opinion from being informed about ongoing operations. Russian media reported on Friday that the Russian interior ministry intends to press criminal charges against Italian journalists who reported from the region of…

Russian internet monitoring services reported widespread slowdowns of online platform YouTube on 8 August, making it nearly inaccessible without using virtual private networks (VPNs). YouTube has remained one of the few platforms of free expression in the country, amid the government’s crackdown on independent media. The International and European Federations Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) strongly condemn Russia’s slow down of YouTube as a severe act of censorship and urge authorities to revoke the restrictions. On 31 July, Russian authorities announced plans to slow down YouTube’s performance with speeds expected to drop by up to 70%, as part of a strategy to persuade…

A major prisoner exchange between Russia and the west is under way today involving at least four journalists: Alsu Kurmasheva, Evan Gershkovich, Vladimir Kara-Murza and Pablo Gonzalez. The European and International Federations of Journalists (EFJ-IFJ) welcomes their release, condemns hostage-taking tactics and calls on Russia, Belarus, Azerbaijan and Turkey to free the 137 other journalists currently behind bars in Europe. According to the Turkish authorities, 26 people from prisons in seven different countries were exchanged in Ankara, under the coordination of the Turkish National Intelligence Agency (MIT). The prisoners are from the US, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway, Russia, and Belarus.…

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 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…