On 7 May, the second session of the EFJ series of webinars on improving media reporting on Muslims and Islam took place online. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the Directorate-General of the European Commission for Justice (DG JUST) welcomed Pedro Rojo, president of Al Fanar, and Diane Kemp, professor of Broadcast Journalism at Birmingham City University and former BBC journalist, to discuss good and bad reporting practices with the participants. The exchange revolved around the questions of how to avoid stereotypes and sensationalism and how to create compelling and relevant stories without resorting to them. To watch the recording…

On 6 May 2021, Croatian President Zoran Milanovic insulted journalists working for the Croatian public broadcaster HRT, accusing them of being “tricksters”, “mercenaries” and “an embarrassment to the country”. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined their affiliates in Croatia, the Union of Croatian Journalists (SNH) and the Croatian Journalists’ Association (HND), in condemning the verbal attacks. Milanovic was on an official trip to participate in the session of the City Council of Split when he gave a statement to the media, which soon escalated into an argument with HRT journalists over the choice of guests in another HRT show…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) partners in welcoming the idea of a European Media Freedom Act, advanced by European Commissioners Thierry Breton and Věra Jourová.  In recent years, we have witnessed the staggering politicisation of the media in a small but growing number of member states where governments have abused regulatory, economic and legislative powers to punish critical media, increase control over public service media and promote government cheerleaders controlled directly or indirectly through party loyalists.  Besides more assertive use of the means already at the disposal of the EU institutions, we…

To mark World Press Freedom Day 2021, the Journalists’ Union of Turkey (TGS) launched a new campaign that attracted a lot of attention and published the TGS Press Freedom report on the precarious situation of Turkish journalists. The TGS mass campaign, entitled #BasınBelada, could be translated to #PressinTrouble and is a play on the lyrics of a popular song by artist Ahmet Kaya, named “Başım Belada” (“I am in trouble”). Next to the #BasınBelada campaign running on social media and newspaper ads, dozens of Turkish journalists shared the visuals and over 200 billboards can be spotted in Istanbul, Izmir, Diyarbakir,…

To mark World Press Freedom Day, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and its partners have just published two calls for Expression of Interest as part of the Media Councils in the Digital Age project, whose objective is to support media self-regulation bodies in addressing the new challenges of the digital age. These calls for Expression of Interest are the first step leading to the award of two grants of 15,000€ which will be provided to newly established press councils and also journalists’ associations, media organisations and/or a consortium of both based in the European Union. The financial support aims to strengthen…

To mark World Press Freedom Day on May 3, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) is supporting its affiliates in Slovenia, the Slovenian Association of Journalists (DNS) and the Union of Slovene Journalists (SNS) in a crowdfunding campaign to support the Slovenian Press Agency (STA), which has had its financing suspended by the government for more than four months now. The campaign comes after the Slovenian government’s communication office, UKOM, suspended payment for services provided by STA and refused to pay monthly instalments for STA services for October and November 2020. This refusal jeopardises the professional and editorial independence of the national press agency, which has so…