Journalists and human rights defenders, academics and civil society representatives gathered in Vilnius (Lithuania) on Monday to discuss with state officials and decision-makers how to guarantee the safety of journalists. The conference, The Safety of Journalists – New Challenges and Responses, was opened by Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Linas Linkevičius. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) was represented by its General Secretary Ricardo Gutiérrez. “We should be far away from any censorship or prohibitions. We have to create conditions and we have to protect journalists because safety is important not only for the journalists themselves, but also for the statehood, for…

The Media Diversity Institute (MDI) is inviting applications for a workshop it is organising for journalists from EU countries who are keen to improve their skills related to reporting on migrants, refugees and other vulnerable groups. The event will be held in London between 4 – 8 September 2017. Journalists from EU countries interested in participating at the workshop should contact info(at)media-diversity(dot)org for further information on how to apply. The deadline for submitting applications is end of 24 July 2017. All costs of participation will be covered by the organisers. The workshop, organised as part of the ‘Media Against Hate…

The Committee for Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) organised on Monday (26/06/2017) a hearing on gender equality in the media in the European Union. The main goal was to provide information for the upcoming own-initiative report, which will be written later on in the year. The rapporteur is Czech MEP Michaela Šojdrová. Lenka Vochocová from Media Studies at the Faculty of Social Sciences in Prague, Donatella Martini, the director of DonneinQuota and Martine Simonis, General Secretary at the Belgian Association of Journalists (AJP) talked about the current situation of women at different positions in the media sector and analysed…

In a resolution, followed by a recommendation adopted on 27 June 2017, the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly encourages the Member States to provide “adequate protection to whistleblowers” in order to better fight corruption. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) welcomes this resolution which recognises investigative journalism as a “public asset” and push for more recognition and support to ensure the public’s widest possible access to information. “We are glad to see that the EFJ views on the issue were heard. The voting result are impressive: it was almost unanimously voted as only one participant abstained and one voted against,…

The year 2016-2017 has seen intense debates over fake news, algorithms and distrust towards journalists and journalism. The 2017 Digital News Report, published by the Reuters Institute for the study of journalism, contains interesting findings on some of the prevailing narratives around these issues. Social media are not doing a good job in separating fact from fiction The overall trust in news – 43% all media combined – drops significantly when it comes to social media, as only 24% thinks that social media do a good job in separating fact from fiction, compared to 40% for the news media. Only…

Multitasking in a 24-hour rush, selling articles for five or ten euros and the increase of burnouts is a reality for too many journalists nowadays. This decline in working conditions is also the main topic of the latest issue of HesaMag, titled “Journalism, an increasingly precarious profession”. The European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) organised yesterday (26/07/2017) a debate on the subject and presented the magazine, which was carried out in collaboration with the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ). The debate was moderated by Willy De Backer, Head of Communication and Publications at the ETUI. #HesaMag event with @renatemargot @AntonisRepanas @WillyDebacker…