Journalists’ organisations across Europe demonstrated against austerity on 1 May. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined the delegation of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) in Paris alongside the French unions. “Europe needs a new economic and social model that puts people and the planet before profit at any cost,” said Esther Lynch, the ETUC General Secretary. “That’s the future that European trade union members will be demonstrating for today. And that will be the objective of our discussions and decision at the ETUC’s congress later this month. The history of May Day tells us that real change is…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins journalists and press freedom, civil society, trade unions, and digital rights groups in a letter to Sabine Verheyen, Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Culture and Education (CULT), in expressing concerns about several changes in the CULT’s report on the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA).  Dear Sabine Verheyen, We, the undersigned journalists, press freedom, civil society, trade unions, and digital rights groups, are writing to you with regard to the proposed amendments to the draft  European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) you have written as the Rapporteur on behalf of the Committee on Culture…

Our Italian FNSI affiliates were visited today in Rome by Julian Assange‘s wife, Stella Morris. The Italian journalists’ union, at the initiative of its Campania branch, presented Julian Assange with an FNSI membership card. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) passed on the initiative to its affiliates in Europe: 19 of them decided to follow the Italian example and grant Julian Assange membership (or honorary membership) of their organisations. The EFJ and its affiliates once again call on the UK authorities to release Julian Assange. Here is the joint appeal delivered to Stella Morris in Rome this morning: We, the…

Two journalists working for the Italian newspaper La Repubblica came under fire on 26 April 2023, while reporting near the Antonivskiy Bridge on the outskirts of Kherson, in southern Ukraine. A Ukrainian journalist working as a fixer, Bohdan Bitik, was shot dead. His Italian colleague, Corrado Zunino, was wounded in the shoulder. Zunino was wearing a bulletproof vest marked “press” but it is unclear whether Bitik wore one as well. The attack was carried out “most likely by Russian snipers”, the newspaper reported. “I’m well, I’ve got a wound in my right shoulder, shaved by the bullet that hit my…

This yearʼs World Intellectual Property Day – celebrated on 26 April 2023 – is marked by critical technological developments that will change the relationship between citizens and creative works – including, crucially, the creativity that goes into producing news reporting that is factual, ethical and engaging. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) represents more than 600,000 journalists in 140 countries worldwide, and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) over 320.000 journalists in 45 countries. We are committed to quality ethical journalism, recognising that this depends on journalists making a living. Machine-learning systems are “trained” on the work of human authors, among whom are journalists, photographers…

Following a visit to Belgrade on April 10 and 11 2023 to commemorate the murder anniversary of editor and publisher Slavko Ćuruvija, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins the undersigned international press freedom and journalists’ organisations in issuing a stark warning over the state of media freedom and journalists’ safety in Serbia. Ahead of World Press Freedom Day on May 3, our shared conclusion is that 24 years after the murder of Ćuruvija in 1999, poor conditions for the safety of journalists, the weak landscape for the rule of law, media capture and a festering climate of hostility towards critical reporting mean that the…