On 28 October, together with fellow partner organisations of the Council of Europe Platform, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) signed a statement of urgent concern regarding the risks to physical safety and undue restrictions faced by journalists covering the conflict in Nagorno Karabakh. The statement reads as follows: We undersigned partner organisations of the Council of Europe Platform for the promotion of journalism and the safety of journalists express our urgent and deep concern about the ongoing risks of injury and harm to media workers reporting on the armed conflict inside Nagorno Karabakh. We are also concerned that arbitrary…

Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, freelance journalists across Europe have been greatly impacted with reduced paid work and often isolation. For the “Online Freelance Seminar: Equal Treatment for All”, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) gathered over 30 journalists’ representatives, freelance journalists and their organisers, EU policy-makers and experts to discuss such impacts on their working conditions and explore ways to support them. The seminar kicked off with a panel led by Oddrun Midtbø (Norwegian Union of Journalists, NJ) with Renske Heddema, (Dutch Journalists’ Association, NVJ), Charlotte Michils (Flemish Association of Journalists, VVJ) and Pablo Aiquel (French National…

The Croatian Journalists’ Association (CJA) and the Trade Union of Croatian Journalists (TUCJ) just launched the #togetherwithouthate (#zajednobezmrznje) campaign. The objective is to warn against the destructive influence of hate speech online and offline journalists are facing because of their work, on the rise for many years. The campaign was launched on Friday 23 October with a call on media outlets to disable the possibility to comment on their websites and social media, for two hours, from 11am to 1pm. Major Croatian media outlets took part in the action, including Jutarnji list, Slobodna Dalmacija, 24sata, Večernji list, Novi list, Glas…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joined the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and 21 other organisations from across the globe to submit a statement to the US government in response to proposed changes to the I visa program that will impact on foreign journalists. “To be clear, by these restrictions on the validity of visas, the Trump administration wants to make it much harder and more expensive for foreign journalists to work in the United States,” said EFJ General Secretary Ricardo Gutiérrez. “This is why, together with the IFJ and 22 global organisations,…

The democratic opposition in Belarus has won this year’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, European Parliament President David Sassoli announced today. The Sakharov Prize is awarded by the European Parliament every year in memory of Soviet physicist and dissident Andrei Sakharov. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) welcomes the award of the prize to the Belarusian opposition and recalls that six journalists are still in prison in Belarus just for doing their job. Protests erupted in Belarus following a disputed presidential election in August that Alexander Lukashenko claimed to have won with 80 percent of the vote, leading to…

On the night of 21 October, the editorial office of the regional media Alternatyva.org was burned down in the Odesa Oblast region. The National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) reported the incident, referring to information from Roman Varshanidze, the editor-in-chief of the publication. The journalist informed that according to witnesses, two unknown persons broke the editorial office window and threw a bottle with Molotov cocktail in it. As a result, the furniture and floor were burnt, but the editorial office and equipment were saved by the neighbours who were able to put out the flames before the firefighters arrived.…