The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) today joined nine other media freedom groups in writing to the Serbian president Vučić and prime minister Brnabić to express serious concerns over the lack of a resolute government response to the dangerous smear campaign against independent news outlet KRIK. The muted response from government leaders was the main catalyst for four of the nine non-state members of the newly-established Working Group for the Security and Protection of Journalists to withdraw, undermining its work and posing questions over trust in the body. Read the letter.

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined twenty-three organisations in expressing their solidarity with the Swedish business and finance publication, Realtid, its editor, and the two journalists being sued for defamation in London. Realtid are due before the High Court on 24 March for a two-day remote hearing that will decide whether England and Wales is the appropriate jurisdiction for the case to be heard. Realtid is being sued by Swedish businessman, Svante Kumlin, and his group of companies Eco Energy World (EEW), for eight articles that they published last year. Realtid had been investigating EEW ahead of an impending…

The Executive Committee of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), where the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) was represented, adopted a new resolution on Monday condemning the repression of protesters and journalists in Russia. The ETUC demands the Russian authorities “to end the intimidation of protesters, who are peacefully expressing their opinions, and of journalists, who are just doing their jobs.” The ETUC is seriously concerned about the Russian government’s lack of respect of fundamental freedoms, following the harsh repression of public protests: “The Russian authorities used force to disperse protests detaining record numbers of people, many of whom were…

The world’s oldest daily newspaper still in publication, Austria’s Wiener Zeitung, is facing possible closure of its print edition as the government’s plans to remove mandatory public advertisements of companies have become clearer. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined its Austrian affiliates, the Austrian Press Union (GPA) and younion_Die Daseinsgewerkschaft, in urging the federal government to propose an alternative plan to finance Wiener Zeitung in order to avoid job losses and further deterioration of media pluralism. The plans announced by the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) and Greens coalition are by no means new. The mandatory public advertisements of companies in…

Following the open letter published by 110 pan-European networks on 30 October 2020 “Make culture central in the EU recovery”, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined the group again to reiterate their call to the national governments and the European Commission. In the second open letter  published today by the group, coordinated by Culture Action Europe, the European cultural community call on the Member States and the European Commission to secure a future for culture and cultural life in Europe. Culture must be included in each and every National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) that EU countries should present to…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) today joined five leading media freedom organisations in writing to the President of the European Commission to express shared and growing concerns over the situation for press freedom in Slovenia. 16/03/2021 Dear Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, CC: Vera Jourova, European Commission Vice-President for Values and Transparency, CC: MEPs of the European Parliament Media Working Group   The undersigned press freedom and journalists’ organisations from across Europe are writing to express our sincere concern about the deteriorating situation for media freedom in Slovenia and the renewed attacks by the Prime Minister…