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

Kosovo: Serbian media must be allowed to report on local elections

The Central Election Commission of Kosovo (KQZ) rejected accreditation requests from Serbian and Albanian-language media outlets, as well as international media, ahead of the 12 October local elections. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins its members the Journalists’ Association of Serbia (UNS) and the Safe Journalists Network (SJN) in condemning a discriminatory decision that is violating media freedom and the right of citizens to receive information in an official language. According to information from the Association of Journalists of Kosovo (AGK), dozens of Serbian-language outlets registered and operating in Kosovo were refused accreditation at a KQZ session. In addition,…

Georgia: We demand urgent action to safeguard independent journalism as ruling party intensifies crackdown

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins its partners from the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) and undersigned organisations in strongly condemning the intensifying crackdown on Georgian journalists and press freedom defenders who continue to face institutional repression and physical attacks. As the Georgian Dream (GD) regime’s Prime Minister explicitly promises to stifle dissent, we reiterate our urgent call for the EU and the international community to respond forcefully to the ruling party’s clampdown on media and civil society. Media freedom in Georgia remains dire and continues to deteriorate. At least 11 journalists from both independent and government-controlled media were…

Bulgaria wants to criminalise alleged privacy violations

On 8 October 2025, Bulgaria’s parliamentary Legal Affairs Committee urgently approved, at first reading, amendments to the Criminal Code introduced by the “There Is Such a People” (ITN) party. The draft law proposes prison sentences and fines for the dissemination of information about a person’s “personal life” without their consent. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and its Bulgarian affiliate AEJ-Bulgaria condemn this disproportionate restriction on journalists’ right to cover private matters that are in the public interest. We demand the outright withdrawal of these provisions, which contravene European legal standards. The proposal defines “personal life” broadly, covering personal, family,…

Bulgaria: Press freedom undermined by political polarisation and delayed reforms

Following a three-day mission to Sofia between 24-26 September, a coalition of international journalists and press freedom organisations, including the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), concluded that progress is needed to prevent and prosecute attacks on journalists, resolve the ongoing dispute over the leadership of the public broadcaster, guarantee the independence of the Council for Electronic Media (CEM) and pass anti-SLAPP legislation. Despite the important work of key journalist associations, there is a low level of solidarity within the journalistic profession. The mission, organised by the Council of Europe’s Safety of Journalists Platform and the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) also found that Bulgaria…

France: EFJ and MFRR condemn new resurgence of police violence against journalists

At least six journalists have been injured since early September while covering the protests against the 2026 national budget plan. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and its Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) partners condemn the deliberate violence by law enforcement officers and call once again on the French authorities to protect and recognise the work of journalists as essential during protests. On 18 September 2025, a journalist from the public television channel France 2 was hospitalised in Lyon after being injured while covering the second day of the “Bloquons tout” (Block Everything) protests against the French government. The journalist…

Bulgaria: EFJ joins mission to assess press freedom and journalists’ working conditions

Between 24-25 September, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) will join a coalition of international media freedom and journalist organisations travelling to Bulgaria to conduct a press freedom mission on behalf of the Council of Europe’s Safety of Journalists Platform and the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR). The delegation, which will include the EFJ General Secretary, Ricardo Gutiérrez, will conduct a series of meetings over two days in the capital Sofia with stakeholders including the Bulgarian President, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Interior, Council of Electronic Media (CEM), Office of General Prosecutor, Commission for Personal Data Protection, Central Election Commission, and representatives…