This International Workers’ Day, all eyes are on Europe. As we celebrate the bonds of friendship between workers and the collective power we have through our trade unions and associations, we also look ahead to the EU elections. At a time when journalists and media workers are coming under increasing pressure and becoming more and more precarious, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) in calling on workers to mobilise, at the ballot box, against political forces hostile to freedom and labour rights. As specified in the Council of Europe Recommendation on the protection…

Konstantin Gabov and Sergey Karelin are the latest journalists to be arrested in Russia for “extremism” following their alleged work with Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK). Both journalists have worked for international media, such as Reuters for Gabov and Deutsche Welle and Associated Press for Karelin. While denied the charges, they will face up to six years in prison if convicted. The International and European Federation of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) demand the immediate release of the journalists and reiterate the condemnation of the Russian authorities’ continued crackdown on independent journalists. On 27 March 2024, Sergei Karelin, who has dual Russian and Israeli citizenship,…

Journalist Sergei Mingazov from the Russian edition of Forbes magazine was charged with spreading “false” information about Moscow’s military offensive in Ukraine, on 26 April 2024. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) denounces the accusations against Mingazov, a member of the Journalists’ and Media Workers’ Union (JMWU), an EFJ affiliate, and once again condemns the continued crackdown on independent journalists by the Russian authorities. A court in Khabarovsk today placed Mingazov under house arrest for two months for “reposting about the events in Bucha” on the Telegram channel Khabarovsk Mingazeta. Bucha is the Kyiv suburb where Russian troops have been accused…

On 25 April, the Ankara public prosecutor’s office requested the conviction of 11 journalists from the Mesopotamya News Agency (MA) for alleged ‘membership in a terrorist organisation’. The case comes just as the Journalists’ Association of Turkey (GCD) is publishing its annual report on press freedom in Turkey. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), present in Ankara, joins its Turkish affiliates GCD, TGS and DISK Basin-Is in denouncing the intensification of pressure on journalists by the Turkish government. The EFJ condemns this climate of terror aimed at imposing widespread self-censorship. The 2023 report published by GCD, as part of the European ‘Media…

On the night of 22-23 April 2024, the Belgian federal police searched the premises of the building of the Kurdish television channels Stêrk TV and Medya Haber (Medya News) in Denderleeuw, Flanders. The police operation was conducted as part of a European Investigation Order (EPO) on terrorist financing. The news channels reported serious material damage and equipment seizure. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined its Belgian affiliate, the Flemish Association of Journalists (VVJ), in strongly condemning the show of force that accompanied the search and urged authorities to guarantee that the confidentiality of journalists’ sources is respected. The search…

The 2023 Report on the state of media freedom and the safety of journalists in Serbia was published on 15 March 2024, assessing the pressure experienced by media professionals in the country. Entitled “Behind the headlines: Threats, attacks and pressure on journalists in Serbia”, the research was conducted in collaboration with the Journalists Association of Serbia (UNS) and the Independent Journalists Association of Serbia (NUNS), with the support of the European Union and Council of Europe, based on a survey of 130 journalists and media workers. The report presents the major challenges to the safety of Serbian journalists by examining…

The Media Freedom Rapid Response consortium partners criticise the criminal defamation lawsuit filed by Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov against investigative journalists Atanas Chobanov and Dimitar Stoyanov of the Bureau for Investigative Reporting and Data (BIRD). The undersigned organisations believe that the lawsuit is designed to silence legitimate investigative reporting and should be immediately withdrawn. The legal action stems from the journalists’ reporting on a property deal that allegedly connected the current Minister of Interior to Martin Bozhanov, an individual known as ‘the Notary’, who was murdered earlier this year following extensive allegations of corruption against him. Kalin Stoyanov has denied…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) launched its new project “Stand Up for Journalism (SUJ)” in Brussels, on 22 April 2024. The kick-off meeting was attended by representatives of journalists unions and associations from Denmark, France, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey, the project partners, and affiliated entities European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and Eurocadres.  The project is led by the EFJ and will be financially supporting six partners, journalists’ unions and associations in the EU and candidate countries: NUNS (Serbia), TUMM (Montenegro), DJ (Denmark), TGS (Turkey), SNJ-CGT (France), all of them being EFJ members. Stand Up for Journalism is an EU-funded project with…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) reiterates its solidarity with Domani newspaper subjected to constant attacks as well as with its journalists Giovanni Tizian, Nello Trocchia, and Stefano Vergine. They are under investigation for complicity in a concerted action with a public official regarding unauthorised access to documents and for revealing secrets through the publication of information contained in those documents. They face up to 9 years in prison. We believe that the decision by the Perugia prosecutor’s office to prosecute the journalists is an attempt to identify their sources. The following call for support was signed by more than…

Most journalists use Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to improve their work and manage their workload. Okraj.cz, a group of three passionate, young journalists from Ostrava, Czech Republic, are no exception. Thanks to funding and mentorship from the Local Media for Democracy (LM4D) project, the media startup developed its own code of conduct for  AI to generate illustrations for their articles, but within reason. The three journalists come from different journalistic backgrounds. Jan Žabka worked in Prague looking into disinformation and digital chaos, Simona Janikova has experience in a range of topics, including local businesses, human stories and environment, and Klara…

25 April 2024 12:00 CET REGISTER HERE On April 25, 2024, the Media Freedom Rapid Response will host a webinar addressing the recent decline in press freedom in Georgia. This decline has been exacerbated by the reintroduction of a Russia-style foreign agent law earlier this month. The new law, titled ‘Transparency of Foreign Influence’ requires independent media and civil society organisations that receive funding from abroad to label themselves as “organisations pursuing the interests of a foreign power.” Since then, journalists from online media were barred from the parliament when the law was being debated and on April 16, 2024, reporters from online media…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) join their Turkish affiliate DİSK Basın-İş in demanding the immediate release of journalist Diren Keser, who has just been jailed for posting news on social networks in 2015. On 27 February, police officers arrested Diren Keser, a reporter for the Pir News Agency (PİRHA), at his home after the Court of Cassation upheld his prison sentence. Keser was transferred to Tarsus Prison. The journalist was charged in 2017 with ‘propaganda for an illegal organisation’ on account of having shared five news articles on social media back in…

Over 1,500 protesters gathered on 16 April 2024 in front of the National Council of the Slovak Republic to express their disagreement with legislation proposed by the Slovak National Party (SNS). Invited by the Otvorená Kultúra! Platform, the President of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) Maja Sever took the floor to express solidarity and recall the legacy of the murdered investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and its significance for free journalism and democracy. Under the slogan “You Divide, We Unite!”, protesters called on the current government to withdraw the controversial legislative proposals aimed at political control of the media and…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined its affiliate in Armenia, the Union of Journalists of Armenia (UJA), in denouncing the authorities’ misuse of anti-hooliganism legislation to suppress press freedom and freedom of expression. The EFJ and UJA demand the immediate release of Narek Samsonyan and Vazgen Saghatelyan, co-authors of the podcast “Imnemnimi”, imprisoned for criticising Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Vazgen Saghatelyan and Narek Samsonyan, the hosts of Imnemnimi, were given two-month pretrial detention on 22 March on charges of hooliganism. If found guilty, they could face up to five years in prison. Armenia’s Investigative Committee stated in a statement…

A joint investigation by Hungarian, French and Portuguese media published last week revealed a direct link between entities close to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and company Alpac Capital, a Portuguese investment fund, which acquired Euronews TV channel in 2022. The takeover was approved by the French government as Euronews, previously headquartered in Lyon, was a company incorporated under French law. The International and European Federation of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) back the call of their French affiliate, the National Union of Journalists (SNJ), for the opening of a parliamentary inquiry aimed at shedding light on the origins of the funds used…