European Federation of Journalists

Media Freedom Rapid Response

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) is a partner of Media Freedom Rapid Response project (MFRR) aiming to promote an independent, pluralistic media landscape, to safeguard media workers, especially harassed female media workers and to protect the rights of journalists. The RRM helps to mitigate the consequences of the recently observed deterioration of media freedom in several European Union, Member States and Candidate Countries.

Overall Objective

The overall objective of this project is to provide practical support for journalists to improve media freedom in Europe.

The Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) is designed to detect, answer and prevent violations of press and media freedom. It consists of three layers: monitoring, categorisation, responses.

Specific objectives

1. Mapping Media Freedom (MMF) in Europe (EU & Candidate Countries): Media violations are on the rise especially under the current coronavirus crisis. One of the key components of the project is to monitor and document a wide range of media violations conducted by any actors, whether individuals, state actors or business, so that actions can be taken rapidly to address the violations.

2. Practical supports: Based on the media violations reported, the project offers a wide range of immediate to long-term, practical support ranging from legal help, safety advice and training, safe house for journalists, advocacy and mission, and online resources. You could find more information about the legal support here and more details about safe house for journalists here.

3. Advocacy & Trial Monitoring: Joint media advocacy will also be carried out by the project including joint statements, national missions (in Czech Republic, Hungry, Spain, Serbia), roundtable advocacy meetings with EU policy-makers. The EFJ will involve the relevant national members when carrying out such national missions. Trial Monitoring especially for Turkey, Malta (for the case of Daphne Caruana Galizia) and Slovakia (for the case of Ján Kuciak) will be carried out and participated by the project partners to help find justice for journalists who are put in jails or murdered.

Anyone can submit and report a media violation to the MMF platform online.

Actions

Albania: The planned GJKKO Regulation represents an alarming regression in judicial transparency and media freedom

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) as part of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) project, joins its Albanian affiliate, the Association of Journalists of Albania (AGSH), in raising concerns over the new internal Regulation of the Special Court against Corruption and Organized Crime (GJKKO) which introduces significant restrictions on journalists’ access to and reporting from court proceedings. The regulation which deviates clearly from the 2023 High Judicial Council Guidelines on relations between courts, the public and the media was secretly adopted without any prior consultation. We call on the Special Court against Corruption and Organized Crime to immediately postpone…

Bosnia and Herzegovina: BH Journalists Association and journalist Anisa Mahmutović faced with smear campaign and defamation lawsuits by public figure Mirnes Ajanović

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) stands in full support of its Bosnian affiliate, the Bosnia and Herzegovina Journalists Association (BHJA), and freelance investigative journalist Anisa Mahmutović, who are facing defamation lawsuits and an ongoing smear campaign led by lawyer Mirnes Ajanović, founder and president of the Bosnian Party (Bosanska Stranka – BOSS).  While Ajanović publicly declared that he had initiated legal proceedings, including criminal charges, before a court in Orašje, the actual filing remained unconfirmed until the BHJA and Mahmutović received formal court notifications from the Municipal Court of Tuzla on 12 and 19 June, respectively. The EFJ is…

EFJ welcomes EU action against 14 states over Anti-SLAPP Directive delays

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins the International Press Institute (IPI) in welcoming the infringement proceedings initiated by the European Commission against 14 EU Member States over their inaction or delays in transposing the Anti-SLAPP Directive. The countries included are Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Spain. The EU infringement proceedings were initiated on 15 July, with letters of formal notice sent to these Member States for failing to notify about progress made in implementing the Directive. States now have two months to respond and update about measures taken or could…

Italy: MFRR report highlights continuing media freedom backsliding

On 9-10 March 2026, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined its Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) partners for its third visit to Rome in five years. The MFRR mission found that Italy has continued on a negative trajectory, resulting in a further erosion of media freedom. This report presents the findings from the mission and MFRR’s ongoing monitoring, offering an analysis of the four most urgent issues identified by the consortium.The persistent political interference in Italy’s public broadcaster Radiotelevisione Italiana (Rai) epitomises the most concerning trend in the Italian media sector, its governance and funding models failing to comply with…

Turkey: We call for the release of journalists detained ahead of NATO Summit

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined the undersigned media freedom, freedom of expression, journalists’ and human rights organisations express profound alarm at the recent wave of detentions and arrests of journalists and civil society representatives in Türkiye in the immediate lead-up to the NATO Summit in Ankara on 7-8 July. In the last two weeks, Turkish authorities have launched a coordinated crackdown on critical voices in the country, including independent media. In this period, the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) monitoring platform Mapping Media Freedom documented 11 journalists and media workers detained under vague or unjustified pretexts, many with…

Portugal: Journalists’ union files complaint in Brussels over Lusa’s statutes for breach of EMFA

The Portuguese Journalists’ Union (Sindicato dos Jornalistas) today filed a complaint with the European Commission concerning the new statutes of LUSA, Portugal’s state-owned news agency, arguing that they violate European law on the protection of editorial independence. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) calls on the European Union to act swiftly to assess the case and ensure compliance with the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) in the event that a violation is actually found. According to the union, the amendments to the statutes, introduced by the Portuguese government in January 2026, breach several provisions of the European Media Freedom Act…