The European Court of Human Rights ruled in favour of Azerbaijani journalist Uzeyir Eldar oglu Jafarov who was subject to extreme violence and the authority failed to bring justice to his case. Jafarov was critical about the Azerbaijani government’s security, the defense policies and the activities of various senior military officers. On 20 April 2007, he wrote an article on an military officer, accusing him of corruption. His chief editor tried for defamation. Following the trial, two men punched him when he left the office. Jafarov stayed in hospital for seven days following the attack. He suffered from a cranial…

A number of members of the US Congress have signed a joint letter urging the Secretary of State John Kerry to press the Turkish government to stop intimidating journalists and media in the country. In a letter to Kerry (Signatures and Letter), 89 members of Congress said that the Turkish government poses a threat to democracy because it “intimidates, arrests and smothers voices opposed to the governments”. Stressing that Turkey is a strategic ally to the US in the Middle East and a key member of NATO, congress members expressed hope to see the Turkish government “abandon this course of intimidation and…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) represented by the President, Mogens Blicher Bjerregård, will attend the third meeting of the Copyright Working Group of the European Parliament (EP) on 12 February in Strasbourg, to address the interest of journalists in the upcoming EU copyright reform. For the first time, representatives of authors including the EFJ are invited to address the issue in front of the group and other members of the parliament. Blicher Bjerregård said, “The importance of authors’ rights has not changed because of the emergence of new media platforms. Authors’ rights become ever more important in ensuring the…

(05/01/2015) The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has  participating in the FES-SINOS Trade Union Seminar in Belgrade (Serbia). The seminar organised by SINOS (Journalists Union of Serbia, EFJ affiliate), with the financial support of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), has focused on the lack of social dialogue and the role of trade union organisations in the private media. The seminar with around 50 participants attracted extensive media coverage. The speakers included Dragana Cabarkapa (SINOS, Serbia), Renate Schroeder (EFJ Director), Tamara Causidis (SSNM, Macedonia), Dejan Gligorijevic (SINOS, Serbia), Marijana Camović (TUMM, Montenegro), Anton Filic (TUCJ, Croatia), several media experts, Mr Dusan…

Deteriorating working conditions of journalists put press freedom in danger, according to a study published by the University of Fribourg and the Federal Office of Communications in Switzerland. The study participated by 1000 journalists who are members of the affiliate of the European Federation of Journalists, impressum, proves that the deteriorating working conditions have a negative impact on press freedom and quality of journalism. The results suggest that economic pressure from advertisers and the media owners are jeopardising the editorial freedom of media. Ricardo Gutiérrez, EFJ General Secretary said: “The conclusions are clear: we fought hard to ensure that press…

Interns working for the British newspaper Financial Times will now receive payment for their work following a successful negotiation by the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) in the UK. The deal brokered by the NUJ is part of the overall pay settlement of an above-inflation rise for all FT staff from April. Unpaid internship remains a common practice in the UK particularly in the journalism industry. According to a report published by the National Council for the Training of Journalists in 2013, 82% of graduate entering into the profession have done an internship, of which 92% of them were unpaid.…