The International and European Federation of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ), together with the International Press Institute (IPI), have sent a letter to the Lithuanian authorities expressing concern about the draft amendment to the Lithuanian Law on National Radio and Television (LRT). The draft was submitted by Mindaugas Lingė, Member of Parliament, on 14 June 2024 as part of efforts to increase Lithuania’s defence spending. The draft, which threatens the public broadcaster’s funding model, was submitted without prior consultation with LRT. We urge the authorities to engage in an open and transparent discussion with LRT to ensure that any changes to the funding…

Slovakia’s parliament approved the government’s planned revamp and leadership change at public broadcaster RTVS on Thursday, overruling concerns the changes will bring RTVS under political control and harm media freedom and media pluralism. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) urges Peter Pellegrini, President of the Slovak Republic to veto the public broadcasting bill. Contrary to the European legal standards, including the newly adopted European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), the new Slovak legislation risks transforming public media into government propaganda outlets. Under the new law, RTVS’s director will be replaced years before his term expires. A nine-member supervisory council, appointed by…

The European and International Federations of Journalists (EFJ-IFJ) join Council of Europe Platform on Safety of Journalists partners to express concerns over crisis within Kosovo’s Public Broadcaster RTK. The partner organisations urge the board of RTK to ensure that the public broadcaster continues to serve the public and not political interests. We sent the following letter to the board of RTK: Dear Chair of the RTK Board, Mr. Besnik Boletini, Dear members of the RTK Board, We are writing to you on behalf of the partners of the Council of Europe Platform to Promote the Protection of Journalism and Safety…

Around 80 local journalists, journalists’ organisations, media researchers and experts from 19 EU countries gathered during the two-day Local Journalism Festival in Brno organised by the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic.  Opening the Festival, EFJ President Maja Sever stressed that “the beginning and end of good journalism that serves the public interest is strong and independent local journalism, and that connection with citizens and the community is the essence of our work.” “Local journalism is the backbone of independent journalism. Without it, we cannot safeguard our democracy. Journalists, their unions and associations, civil…

Russian journalist Artem Kriger, who works for independent media SOTAvision, was arrested on 18 June and placed in pre-trial detention, on charges of allegedly helping late opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), labelled as “extremist”. The International and the European Federations of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) condemn the repeated detention of critical journalists on similar charges and call on the Russian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Artem Kriger and all journalists imprisoned in the country.   On 18 June, the Moscow Basmanny Court held a closed trial and placed Kriger in pre-trial detention until 18 August. The journalist challenged the decision…

On 18 June 2024, a journalist working for the French independent news portal Blast was arbitrarily arrested by the police and detained for refusing to hand over her sources. She was released after thirty-two hours of detention. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins its French affiliates the SNJ, SNJ-CGT and CFDT-Journalistes in denouncing this blatant violation of the confidentiality of journalistic sources and arbitrary detention.  On 18 June 2024, protestors gathered outside of the headquarters of the company Exxelia, which is at the heart of a judicial investigation by the Paris court for complicity in war crimes, following a…