September 19 marks one year since the death of Victoria Roshchyna, a Ukrainian journalist who had been held for over a year in Russian captivity. On this day, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins its MFRR partners in remembering Victoria and demanding justice for her death from Russian authorities. Roshchyna’s body was repatriated to Ukraine and buried in Kyiv only on 8 August 2025, almost one year after the official date of her death recorded by Russian authorities. According to Ukrainian forensic investigators, Roshchyna’s body showed numerous signs of torture, including burn marks from electric shocks, cuts on the…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins the Safe Journalists Network (SJN) and the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) partners in expressing, in an open letter to the Parliament of Albania, our serious concern over recent proposals by the parliamentary majority to significantly restrict journalists’ access to the Parliament of Albania.

The Danish government has announced its intention to introduce a public-funded Ombudsperson for the media with broad legal powers concentrated into a single state-appointed institution. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins the partners of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), as well as Danish media and journalist groups in opposing the proposal, warning that rather than strengthening the existing media regulatory framework, it would weaken the role of the Press Council and risks creating new avenues for unjustified or politicised interference in healthy media ecosystem. The role and powers given to the new Media Ombudsperson were outlined by the…

This Monitoring Report takes stock of the press freedom situation in 36 EU Member States and candidate countries during the first six months of 2025. Between January and June, the Mapping Media Freedom database documented 709 press freedom violations, affecting 1249 media workers or entities.  The report documents a vast variety of attacks, indicating that media workers in Europe operate in an increasingly hostile environment. The types of attacks documented included verbal attacks – such as death threats and smear campaigns – physical attacks, attacks to property, legal incidents, and interference with reporting work.  Media workers faced threats in different…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins the undersigned media freedom, journalists’, and freedom of expression organizations in strongly condemning the recent physical and verbal attacks on independent media by activists of the Georgian Dream ruling party and a police officer. These latest serious physical attacks are the result of long-standing impunity for crimes against journalists in Georgia. We demand an independent and thorough investigation into these incidents and that all those responsible be fully held accountable. On the evening of September 8, tensions near Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze’s campaign office escalated between peaceful protesters and Georgian Dream activists. Reports…

Turkey is increasingly throttling social media platforms and messaging apps to silence online communication at moments of profound political or social importance. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins the undersigned human rights and press freedom organisations in condemn Turkey’s actions, which isolate people from vital information, and stifle democratic participation. Turkey must correct course and uphold its international human rights obligations. On 7 September at 23:45, major social media platforms and messaging services X, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, and Signal became inaccessible in Istanbul for approximately 21 hours. The bandwidth throttling coincided with a police blockade of the main opposition Republican…