The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined the International Press Institute (IPI) and media freedom partners in providing a formal contribution to the public consultation into the draft act to amend the Polish Broadcasting and Television Act – a major and much needed overhaul of the country’s media legislation. The draft reform, published by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, also represents a core element of the implementation of the EU’s European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) in Poland. The public consultation closed on January 23. The submission was made by IPI along with the European Centre for Press and…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) today joined media freedom and journalist groups in stressing that recent amendments to Albania’s Criminal Code, though positive, must be strengthened to ensure full decriminalisation of defamation. The amendments to Albania’s Criminal Code approved on 21 January 2026 by the Parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs and Public Administration, which if passed into law, would represent important steps forward in improving the climate for media freedom, journalists’ safety and freedom of expression. These amendments reflect a clear political intent to move away from the criminalisation of defamation as part of the European accession process, acknowledging…

Last week, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), together with Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) partner organisations, submitted contributions to the EU’s annual Rule of Law report for 2026, identifying key developments for media freedom and pluralism and outlining recommendations for reform. MFRR organisations provided submissions on 15 EU Member States and candidate countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Greece, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia and Spain. Submissions on media freedom and pluralism provided updates about implementation and lack thereof of recommendations from the 2025 Rule of Law report, new legislative or regulatory developments, as well as…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) partners in welcoming the European Commission’s EU Democracy Shield initiative and the European Parliament’s Special Committee’s Rapporteur’s draft report published on 21 January. While the Shield lays out critical political priorities and policy measures to defend democracy, these require further operationalisation. We reiterate our calls for a comprehensive action plan that elaborates on the concrete implementation and timeline for these commitments. The MFRR partners share this more detailed response that aims to translate the political commitments of the Democracy Shield into concrete actions that can feed into the Parliamentary Debate on…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins the undersigned international media freedom and journalist organisations in welcoming the confirmation of guilty verdicts handed to Robert Agius and Jamie Vella, the two men who supplied the bomb used to assassinate journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017. On 21 January, the two gang members lost their attempt at the court of appeal to overturn their convictions. Both men are serving life imprisonment after being found guilty in June 2025 of procuring the military grade explosives and providing them to the hitmen who executed the murder of the journalist. The pair unsuccessfully argued their convictions…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), together with its Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) partners, has voiced serious concern today in a public letter to the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Christian Schmidt, over the lack of political action on the future of the state broadcaster, Radio-Television of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BHRT). We called on him to use his legal authority to secure a viable solution amid the continued absence of institutional response and political will within Bosnia and Herzegovina’s institutions.