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 European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and its four affiliates in France (SNJ, SNJ-CGT, CFDT-Journalistes, FASAP-FO) call on the French authorities to take the necessary measures in view of the worrying increase in threats and violence against journalists in France. It is the responsibility of the public authorities to guarantee press freedom and an environment that allows journalists to carry out their work in safety. The number of press freedom violations in France recorded by the EFJ on the EU-funded MFRR platform almost quadrupled in the month of June compared to the number reported since the beginning of the year.…

The Reuters Institute, in cooperation with Oxford University, recently published the Digital News Report 2024, revealing the worldwide latest trends in online news consumption. The report is set in a particular context of global elections and ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, feeding online news with misinformation and disinformation. This year, the report showcases the growing role of visual and video-led platforms and analyses for the first time audience attitudes towards Artificial Intelligence (AI) in news.  Trust in news  In this year’s report, 40% of all respondents said they trust the news, a similar rate compared to last…

Another alarming report on the deterioration of media pluralism in Europe. The latest edition of the “Media Pluralism Monitor” (MPM2024) is out. Of the 32 European countries analysed, barely seven (Germany, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Finland and Lithuania) have a satisfactory situation. Everywhere else, European citizens are not fully guaranteed access to diversified and independent sources of information. Overall trends show increasing commercial and political interference in the media. The report also demonstrates the passivity of European governments and media companies in the face of this democratic threat. The latest MPM report was released today by the Centre for…

In response to the EU sanctions against Russian media that were approved in June 2024, Russia’s Foreign Ministry has announced that it is banning 81 media outlets from European Union countries from broadcasting in Russia. The International and the European Federations of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) strongly condemn these restrictions, which prevent Russian citizens from freely accessing information from EU media outlets, thereby breaching the public’s right to know. On 25 June, Russia’s Foreign Ministry announced its decision to block access to prominent EU media outlets across Russia and released a list of 81 publications, including  leading EU and pan-European media from…

Russian journalist Artem Kriger, who works for independent media SOTAvision, was arrested on 18 June and placed in pre-trial detention, on charges of allegedly helping late opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), labelled as “extremist”. The International and the European Federations of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) condemn the repeated detention of critical journalists on similar charges and call on the Russian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Artem Kriger and all journalists imprisoned in the country.   On 18 June, the Moscow Basmanny Court held a closed trial and placed Kriger in pre-trial detention until 18 August. The journalist challenged the decision…

Russia’s Ministry of Defence confirmed, on 27 May 2024, that it has detained Ukrainian investigative journalist Viktoria Roshchyna. She had been reported missing while reporting in the Russian-occupied territory in August last year. Along with their affiliate, the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU), the International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) condemn the arrest of Roshchyna and urge the Russian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release her. According to a letter dated 17 April 2024 received by Roshchyna’s father from the Russian military police, the Ukrainian investigative journalist is currently being detained in Russia. Her father shared the…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) held its Annual Meeting in Prishtina, Kosovo, on 23-24 May 2024. The event, which brought together around 100 journalists’ trade unions and professional associations from 45 European countries, was organised by the Association of Journalists of Kosovo (AGK). The theme of the annual meeting “Journalism in times of war” allowed major discussions on current challenges such as the safety and working conditions of journalists. #EFJPrishtina24: Throwback to the annual meeting in Prishtina. “Stand up for journalism as a public good” 🤝🏼 pic.twitter.com/PPErweXyRK — EFJ (@EFJEUROPE) May 28, 2024   “It is a historic milestone…

Speech by Maja Sever (EFJ President) on 23 May 2024. Dear colleagues, I am glad that we gathered here in Prishtina.  Thank you to our AGK for hosting us, and I believe that we will send a message about the importance of protecting the independent, professional, and safe work of the media community in this part of Europe as well. It’s been a difficult year. Times are tough and might get even tougher. But we’re all here because we refuse to give up. We believe in journalism and democracy, and we won’t back down from our fight. Our colleagues are…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) will hold its annual meeting in Prishtina, Kosovo. Around 100 journalists and trade union representatives from 45 European countries are expected to meet on 23-24 May 2024. Prishtina was chosen as the host city of the upcoming congress of the EFJ, representing 320,000 journalists in Europe. Co-organised by the Association of Journalists of Kosovo (AGK), the assembly will be held in Modelarium, University of Prishtina. “It is a historic milestone for Kosovo to host this important annual event. It comes at a time when the media freedom index in the country has fallen significantly,…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined the undersigned partner organisations of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) in demanding the immediate release of Andrey Gniot, a Belarusian journalist and pro-democracy activist who is being held in custody by Serbian authorities on politically motivated charges formulated by the regime of Alexander Lukashenko. Since October, Serbian courts have been deliberating upon a request to deport Gniot to Belarus. According to the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ), an independent trade union in exile, Gniot was arrested immediately upon his arrival to Serbia on October 30. He was detained based on an international arrest warrant…

On World Press Freedom Day, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) stand in solidarity with journalists and media workers everywhere and reaffirm our commitment to defending press freedom across Europe. Across Europe, journalists and media workers are regularly stopped from doing their job. Among EU Member States and candidate countries alone, over 1,000 media freedom violations have been documented on Mapping Media Freedom Platform. Belarus has one of the most oppressive media climates in the world. The most recent figures report 36 media professionals in Belarus are behind bars. The crucial role of…

On World Press Freedom Day (WPFD) 2024, the partner organisations of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) stand in solidarity with media workers everywhere and draw attention to the deteriorating press freedom situation in Europe. Since WPFD 2023, the MFRR partners have documented more than 1,000 media freedom violations affecting over 1,500 journalists or media entities in European Union Member States and candidate countries. As the year progressed, the MFRR witnessed physical attacks, harassment online and offline, the continued use of vexatious lawsuits to stifle critical reporting, further pressure on sustainable revenue streams for independent media, government attempts to muzzle public media, and tragically…

Journalist Sergei Mingazov from the Russian edition of Forbes magazine was charged with spreading “false” information about Moscow’s military offensive in Ukraine, on 26 April 2024. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) denounces the accusations against Mingazov, a member of the Journalists’ and Media Workers’ Union (JMWU), an EFJ affiliate, and once again condemns the continued crackdown on independent journalists by the Russian authorities. A court in Khabarovsk today placed Mingazov under house arrest for two months for “reposting about the events in Bucha” on the Telegram channel Khabarovsk Mingazeta. Bucha is the Kyiv suburb where Russian troops have been accused…

The ruling Georgian Dream party reintroduced into the Parliament on 2 April a proposed “foreign agents” law. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins its Georgian affiliate, the Independent Association of Georgian Journalists (IAGJ) in condemning any attempt by the Georgian government to reintroduce the draft legislation on foreign agents or foreign influence. This bill is incompatible with international human rights law and standards that protect the rights to freedom of expression and association. The bill “on transparency of foreign influence” would require non-profit organisations and media outlets receiving more than 20% of their funding from abroad to be registered…