Speech by Maja Sever (EFJ President) on 11 May 2023. Thank you for your kind words of support, welcome, and hospitality. My dear friends and colleagues, Unfortunately, our journalistic work has become such that, despite the pleasure of meeting and the hope that we will discuss and work successfully to strengthen journalism during these two days, I have to start with some sad news from Ukraine. One of us is gone; our college Arman Soldin, a 32-year-old French journalist born in Sarajevo, was killed while reporting in the war zone of eastern Ukraine. I invite you to pay tribute to Arman…

Journalist Arman Soldin was killed on 9 May 2023 in the afternoon in a shelling attack near Chasiv Yar in eastern Ukraine. The 32- year- old was working for the news agency Agence France Presse (AFP). The European and International Federations of Journalists (EFJ-IFJ) join their affiliates in Ukraine and France in expressing their condolences to Soldin’s relatives, colleagues and friends. The attack happened at around 4:30 pm on the outskirts of Chasiv Yar, a town close to Bakhmut, the epicentre of the fighting in eastern Ukraine for several months. Four AFP colleagues and a group of Ukrainian military personnel survived the attack uninjured.…

Journalists at Agence France-Presse (AFP) in Istanbul entered their 7th day of strike action to demand higher salaries in the face of soaring prices. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) expresses support for striking journalists and urges the AFP to provide decent wages to its employees. A fair wage is not a privilege, but a right. The Journalists’ Union of Turkey (TGS) went on strike on World Press Freedom Day on 3 May, after failing to reach an agreement with the management of the global news agency. Journalists’ demands include an increase in salaries to compensate for inflation as well…

This op-ed was published on the Social Europe website. By Oliver Roethig and Ricardo Gutiérrez The aspiration for a quality news platform that draws Europe together is being suffocated. In the wake of the takeover last year of Euronews, an editorial overhaul and mass layoffs are being pressed by its new owner. In 1993, Euronews was created by national public broadcasters as a European response to the ‘CNN effect’—how news channels were increasingly shaping public and political opinion. A broadcaster with a public mission at its heart was the vision, the choice to construct a freely-accessible, multilingual European alternative, in the hands of the public,…

On 3 May, Raman Pratasevich, former editor of the Telegram opposition news channel Nexta, was given an eight year prison sentence by a Belarusian court in Minsk. He was arrested back in 2021. The International and European Federation of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) join their affiliate, the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ), in condemning this blatant attack on press freedom and in calling for him to be released immediately. Following a trial that lasted nearly three months, Raman Pratasevich was found guilty and convicted on alleged charges that included “organising mass riots”, “incitement to hatred”, “founding an extremist group”, “conspiracy to seize…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) organised, on the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day, a 1.5 day conference on the safety of journalists. Held at the Bozar in Brussels, the conference brought together journalists, experts, representatives of the EU and trade unions to discuss the safety of journalists, both physically and psychologically. If journalists and media workers are not protected, democracies are endangered The conference opened with a minute of silence for killed journalists around the world. Figures show that Europe has become a dangerous place for media professionals: for the year 2022, the Media Freedom Rapid Response…