On 8 March International Women’s Day, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) calls for more vigorous actions to be made by governments and employers’ organisations to improve gender equality as the Covid crisis has deepened gender inequality.  Members of the EFJ experts groups on labour rights and freelances have looked at the working conditions of journalists during this period and noticed that working-from-home and lockdown policy has had a much greater impact on female journalists.  In Germany, according to a study from the Hans-Böckler Stiftung, women spend 1.7 hours more on work concerning family duties, since men tend to work…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) in calling on employers, legislators and law enforcement bodies to take action to tackle violence and harassment at work. Carried out January-February 2021, the ETUC survey of women union leaders in 21 European countries found that only 16% say that employers have updated their policies to address online harassment associated with telework; 23% thought that employers did enough to tackle violence and harassment at work, including online; 16% think their national laws are strong enough to tackle violence and harassment at work, including online; 17% believe their…

Update (13 and 23/03/2021) Denis Ivashin is the 10th journalist in jail in Belarus. His address: Prison № 1. 230023, Grodna, st. Kirava, 1, Belarus. Yasep Palubiatka is the 11th journalist behind bars in Belarus. —————————- Nine journalists are behind bars just for doing their job in Belarus. All are victims of the indiscriminate repression launched by the regime of illegitimate President Lukashenko. Some are serving an unjustified harsh sentence. Others are awaiting criminal trials. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins the call of the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) and invites you to send them a letter of…

The Media4Europe summit, organised on 3 March 2021 by Europe’s Media Lab (Fondation Euractiv), called for greater collaboration between media professionals and media outlets. Publishers, EU policy makers, media and journalists’ representatives, including EFJ President Mogens Blicher Bjerregard, discussed solutions to make the media sector more financially sustainable and close to citizens’ needs. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that journalists and reliable news information are more necessary than ever. It has also tested the weaknesses and limitations of most of the European media business models. The awareness at the European level is growing: “the health of the news media sector…

The German Journalists Association (DJV) has conducted a survey on the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on Freelance journalists in Germany. About one year after the beginning of the crisis, the results show that many freelance journalists face an increasingly precarious situationl due to insufficient support. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins its German affiliates in drawing attention to this particularly vulnerable group of journalists and in calling for improved financial mechanisms to address this issue. Between 29 January and 19 February 2021, 1,090 freelance journalists participated in the study. It found that the average annual income of freelancers…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) is organising a series of online webinars aiming to improve media reporting on Muslims and Islam. At times, media coverage and representations have too often been discriminatory, exclusive and biased, with many important voices left unheard. The upcoming training attempts to address these issues through ethical and unbiased reporting. There are 30 spots available for journalists from EU and candidate countries or Council of Europe members. The training aims to improve the understanding of Muslims and Islam through unbiased media reporting, connecting with Muslims and religious representatives as well as diversifying the medias’ respective views…

Italy’s largest mafia trial in three decades has begun, following a four-year long investigation into the Calabrian organised crime syndicate ‘Ndrangheta and its alleged affiliates networks, in Italy and abroad. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), the Italian Federation of Journalists’ unions (FNSI) and the Union of RAI journalists (USIGRai) condemned the decision of judges to ban cameras from their courtroom. Not allowing video recordings of Court proceedings means denying a pillar of the story. It also means preventing the construction of the memory of a historical fact for Italy and Europe. This is what is happening in the “Rinascita…

The repression of journalists continues to intensify in Belarus, in a context of passivity on the part of the international community. On 2 March, at 4 p.m., the Moskovsky District Court of Minsk announced its verdict. It convicted TUT.BY journalist Katerina Borisevich and doctor Artem Sorokin. They are accused of disclosing medical secrets. Katerina Borisevich was sentenced to six months in prison and a fine, Artem Sorokin to two years in prison with a one-year suspension and a fine. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) strongly condemns a court decision that violates press freedom and freedom of access to information.…

Registration The European Federation of Journalists invites you to attend the first MFRR Summit taking place online between 17th and 20th March. Locked Down: Protecting Europe’s Free Press will feature keynote speeches by Irene Khan and Věra Jourová, and bring together 32 journalists and experts from 16 countries to explore the threats facing media freedom in Europe across eight panels and two workshops. The Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) monitors, tracks and responds to media freedom violations in EU Member States and Candidate Countries. In its first year, through Mapping Media Freedom, 378 alerts (with 1159 attacked persons or entities related…

A photographer for the regional daily L’Union, Christian Lantenois, was seriously injured on Saturday 27 February while covering tensions in the Croix-Rouge district of Reims. Lantenois is currently in the intensive care unit in Reims’ hospital in a serious condition. The European and International Federation of Journalists (EFJ/FIJ) strongly condemn this despicable act. An investigation has been opened for attempted murder. Christian Lantenois, 65 years old, went to Croix-Rouge on Saturday 27 February at around 3 pm in a car identifiable as belonging to the newspaper L’Union to cover the tensions in the district. The photographer was found shortly afterwards, in…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined 15 media freedom groups and associations in again urging the EU’s Competition Commissioner to swiftly address concerns over media market distortions in Hungary. The group notes the continuing deterioration of media pluralism in Central Europe and renew their call to the European Commission’s Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager to open a prompt investigation into pending state aid complaints. The Commission’s lack of enforcement of market rules in Hungary, the groups said, is not only allowing the situation there to worsen but now also empowering the deliberate distortion of the media market in Poland, with…

Kosovo Investigative journalist Visar Duriqi was left with a broken nose and teeth following an assault by three masked men on 25 February. The European and International Federations of Journalists (EFJ/IFJ) joined their affiliate in Kosovo, the Association of Journalists of Kosovo (AJK), in condemning the brutal attack. Visar Duriqi, a journalist at online news portal Insajderi, was on his way home after attending a live TV debate, shortly after midnight, when three unknown people wearing masks assaulted him in front of his apartment. Duriqi suffered severe injuries and was taken to the hospital. The police has launched an investigation…

Vincent Muscat, one of the three presumed murderers of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, has been sentenced to 15 years in jail after pleading guilty at the latest hearing into her killing in 2017. The International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) welcomed the decision and urged the authorities to continue to pursue others involved in her murder. Muscat, an alleged hitman in a contract to kill the journalist, is believed to have negotiated a more lenient sentence in exchange for supplying state prosecutors with information on others involved. Daphne Caruana Galizia’s reporting focused on high-level corruption, including investigations into the Panama Papers in 2016. She was murdered in a…

The General Secretary of the European Federation of Journalists Ricardo Gutiérrez gave the keynote speech today at the Socialists & Democrats online event on media freedom and artistic freedom. He called on MEPs to push member state governments to adopt concrete measures to protect journalists. Here is the speech of the EFJ General Secretary: Freedom of the press and artistic freedom are two essential dimensions of one and the same fundamental right: freedom of expression. This freedom has been under pressure in Europe for years. And the context of the fight against the pandemic has not helped. In the last…

Journalismfund.eu reopens its European Cross-border grant programme to support independent cross-border investigative journalism. With this programme Journalismfund.eu aims to further contribute to the development of a vital European public sphere by enabling investigations into issues of common interest to European citizens. The awarded programme, running since 2009, supports professional journalists who have good ideas for cross-border investigations with a focus on European topics. Cross-border teams can apply for a grant to cover working time and expenses for their joint investigation. Next to a grant, teams can also apply for a mentor to provide assistance with either the focus of the investigation or the need for competences…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined partners of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) in expressing serious concern about the sharp decline in freedom of the press in the European Union. We sent a letter today to the President of the European Council, Charles Michel: Dear President Michel, Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) partners are profoundly concerned by the increasing threats and attacks against journalists. 2020 was an unfortunate record year: MFRR recorded 245 alerts (with 873 attacked persons or entities related to media) in 22 EU Member States, and the Council of Europe Platform for the Protection of Journalism recorded 115…