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EU: EFJ submitted contributions to the 2026 Rule of Law report
Last week, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), together with Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) partner organisations, submitted contributions to the EU’s annual Rule of Law report for 2026, identifying key developments for media freedom and pluralism and outlining recommendations for reform. MFRR organisations provided submissions on 15 EU Member States and candidate countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Greece, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia and Spain. Submissions on media freedom and pluralism provided updates about implementation and lack thereof of recommendations from the 2025 Rule of Law report, new legislative or regulatory developments, as well as…
EU: Further protections for journalists and media freedom needed in Democracy Shield
The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) partners in welcoming the European Commission’s EU Democracy Shield initiative and the European Parliament’s Special Committee’s Rapporteur’s draft report published on 21 January. While the Shield lays out critical political priorities and policy measures to defend democracy, these require further operationalisation. We reiterate our calls for a comprehensive action plan that elaborates on the concrete implementation and timeline for these commitments. The MFRR partners share this more detailed response that aims to translate the political commitments of the Democracy Shield into concrete actions that can feed into the Parliamentary Debate on…
EFJ publishes its position on the revision of the EU Broadcasting Communication
The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) participated to the public consultation launched by the European Commission on the evaluation of the 2009 Broadcasting Communication (BComm), which provides guidance on how public service broadcasting may receive state funding. The EFJ and its affiliates strongly believe that public service media (PSM) play an increasingly important role in today’s fragile information ecosystem, which is dominated by a handful of private digital platforms. It is therefore essential that PSM are able to operate under conditions of financial viability, full transparency and political independence. According to the EFJ, the BComm has been and remains a…
European Democracy Shield: Bolstering independent media at the core of democratic resilience
On 13 November 2025, the European Commission adopted its European Democracy Shield, the first comprehensive, flagship strategy for strengthening democratic resilience within the bloc, with a key focus on free and independent media, fighting disinformation and creating healthier information ecosystems to protect European values and security. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) today joins the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) partners in welcoming the Shield which offers, in the face of rising digital manipulation, shrinking civic space and collapsing media business models, an important opportunity to ensure safety of journalists and media viability – but only if turned into concrete…
Joint letter: Call for robust and strategic EU investment in free media in the next budget
The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined the Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD) and more than 100 organisations in calling for robust and strategic EU investment in free and independent media in response to the proposal for the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2028-2034. As debates intensify over future budget priorities, our organisations stress that Europe’s democratic resilience depends on sustained and strategic support for the public interest information ecosystem. Our call to action We urge the European Parliament, the European Commission, and Member States to guarantee substantial and long-term EU funding and investment for the public interest information…
#SOTEU2025: Public interest journalism must be at the core of the announced ‘Media Resilience Programme’
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen voiced strong support for media freedom and journalism in her State of the Union address to the European Parliament on 10 September 2025. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) welcomes the announcement of a new ‘Media Resilience Programme’ and calls for journalists’ social and professional rights to be included and recognised as essential for quality journalism. “We need to do more to protect our media and independent press. This is why we will launch a new ‘Media Resilience Programme’. It will support independent journalism and media literacy.” While the next EU long-term budget…
