The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) have welcomed the announcement by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to reopening Greek public broadcaster ERT, which was closed down by the previous government in June 2013. On Monday 9 February Nikos Pappas, the State Minister responsible for public service broadcasting, said that the government will prepare a draft law in a month’s time in order to allow the re-opening of ERT. The PSB went off air in June 2013 and 2700 staff were laid off as part of austerity measures adopted by the government of former Prime…

Update (13/06/2015): Emin Huseynov flew out of Azerbaijan on the plane of Switzerland’s top diplomat Didier Burkhalter, who attended the Euro Games ceremony in Baku late on Friday (12/06/2015). Emin Huseynov who had been sheltering for 10 months at the Swiss embassy in Baku, is now in Bern. Julian Assange’s Courage Foundation helped him escape Azerbaijan and fly to Switzerland.   Reportage broadcasted this week by the Swiss national television shows the case of Azeri journalist and human rights defender Emin Huseynov, secretly hidden in the Swiss Embassy in Baku (Azerbaijan) since last August due to a wave of repression…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) represented by President, Mogens Blicher Bjerregård, told EU policy-makers to address the unfair contractual practices in the media and creative sectors in a meeting organised by the European Parliament working group on intellectual property rights and copyright reform in Strasburg. Addressing members of the working group, Blicher Bjerregård says, “The biggest challenge facing journalists today is the unfair contractual practices that deprived the right of journalists from receiving fair payment for their work. “The imbalance in negotiation power between media organisations and individual journalists allows this to happen.” You can read the full speech…

At the end of a three-day visit to Bulgaria, Nils Muižnieks, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, said today he was concerned at the insufficient transparency of media ownership and financing and lack of action against media concentration.This has reportedly resulted in a media landscape worryingly characterised by many outlets serving few interests. “Genuine media pluralism is the institutional guarantee for the fulfillment of the right to receive and impart information and the authorities must take steps to secure it”, said Nils Muižnieks. Referring to the recent imposition of high fines by the Bulgarian financial supervision authority on media reporting on companies’ financial…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has today received an official complaint drafted by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) which draws the attention to alarming developments in Serbia. According to the network, the Serbian Prime Minister, some media that support his administration and other high-ranking government officials are conducting unprecedented attacks against critical voices. After a series of investigations on issues of public interest, the Serbian authorities and pro-governmental media organisations started a public campaign against BIRN journalists labelling them as “EU mercenaries, spies and liars” or people working against Serbian national interests. “We are alarmed and particularly concerned by what appears to…

In the framework of the project “Rights and Jobs in Journalism”, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) together with the Danish Journalists’ Union will organise a two-day workshop on “Let’s organise, invest in youth and skills” on 11 – 12 May in Copenhagen, Denmark.   Agenda The workshop will discuss and offer practice tools and exchanges on the following themes: Job losses vs job growth: What is the trend in jobs and skills in journalism? Five steps to restore sustainable jobs in European media Recruitment strategies: How to reach out to the youth and new types of workers? Creating Europe’s…