The journalistic profession is rapidly changing as a result of the emergence of new technologies. Journalists are expected to acquire new skills and do multi-tasking. They have to be an all-in-one journalist, photographer and camera operator. At the same time, they are caught up in the 24-hours news cycle and lack the time to take part in training in order to learn new skills. Instead, most of them are learning these new skills while performing their jobs. Media companies are less and less interested in offering training for their journalists due to budget cuts. How can we solve this dilemma…

The journalist and political analyst Tanja Topić was wildly attacked and threatened by Milorad Dodik, the Chairman of the BiH state Presidency, on 24 May. He denounced her as “an agent of the German BND” and a “quisling”. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins its affiliate, the BH Journalists’ Association (BHJA), in condemning yet another violation to press freedom by one of the highest political officials in the country. This is not the first time Milorad Dodik is targeting journalists as “traitors”, “mercenaries” and “hostile media” or that he insulted or humiliated journalists whose reporting he disagrees with. This latest…

On 21 May, the third session of the EFJ series of webinars on improving media reporting on Muslims and Islam took place online with contributions from the journalistsJean-Paul Marthoz (Le Soir, Belgium), Shirish Kulkarni (Clwstwr, UK) and Neila Butt, Creative Diversity Lead for programs at Channel 4 in the UK. The webinar focussed on how journalists can push for more ethical reporting practices inside their newsrooms and how diverse newsrooms currently are. To watch the recording of the webinar click here. Jean-Paul Marthoz started the discussion by highlighting that there are many ways to cover Islam but we must stick…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) join the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) to call for the immediate release of all political prisoners held in Belarus, including 29 journalists and media actors. This statement was originally published on baj.by on 24 May 2021. On May 23, blogger Raman Pratasevich was detained by Belarusian security forces at the Minsk National Airport, following the forced landing of a Ryanair passenger airliner. According to available information, Pratasevich is facing charges under Part 1 of Art. 293 of the Criminal Code (organization of mass riots), Part 1 of Art. 342 of…

On Sunday 23 May, the Belarusian authorities forced a civilian plane to perform an emergency landing in Minsk. The Ryanair plane, flying between Greece and Lithuania and carrying more than 100 passengers, was forced to land by a Belarusian military aircraft. One of the flight passengers, Belarusian journalist Raman Pratasevich, was retained by the Belarusian authorities and prevented from boarding the plane at the Minsk airport to its original destination. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) denounces this act of air piracy and state terrorism. It demands the immediate release of Raman Pratasevich and the 28 other journalists currently detained…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) welcomes the European Parliament’s adoption of the new Creative Europe cultural programme on 19 May. This programme will support European cultural exchange with a budget of around 2.5 billion euros for the period 2021-27, a sum which is the EU’s biggest ever financial commitment to the culture and media sector. For the first time, news media and journalism will be supported as well. The Creative Europe programme will benefit from a financial envelope set at € 1 842 000 000 in current prices and an additional allocation of € 600 000 000 in 2018…