By Ronan Ó Fathaigh and Dirk Voorhoof

The European Court of Human Rights has held that the conviction and imprisonment of two Azerbaijani journalists violated their freedom of expression under Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights. 

Busy, busy – we have spent 2019 in a hive of activity and built some new features into our ongoing work. Tragically, journalists in Europe continued to suffer in a climate of hostility and impunity.

By Pavel Antonov/Silvia Velikova

There is a great pressure against public media in Bulgaria at the moment, with the Bulgarian National Radio holding on as a stronghold for free speech and independent journalism. Just a few weeks ago, a major attack was mounted on the independence of the BNR. An attempt was made by the management to remove a journalist from her post in order to make it easier for Ivan Geshev to be elected as Bulgaria's next Prosecutor-General.  … read more

We, the undersigned organisations, welcome today’s judgment on meaning in the case of Arron Banks vs Carole Cadwalladr. The judgment clarified the context of the comments that form the basis of this lawsuit, and noted that aspects of the claimant’s argument were “far-fetched and divorced fro … read more

By Jane Whyatt

A delegation of Europe’s top media freedom campaigners has brought together the families and employer of murdered journalist Jàn Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová. 

The European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa (OBCT) are conducting a Fact-Finding Mission to Denmark and Sweden. This is to identify best practices and recommendations for journalism and press freedom. For three days, from 16 – 18 December 2019, the delegation will meet with journalists, politicians, scientists and representatives of media organisations.  … read more

We, the undersigned organisations, urge European Union leaders to call on Prime Minister Muscat to guarantee that all investigations and legal proceedings related to the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder are conducted efficiently, transparently and without any interference from any individual potentially implicated in the case.

We, the undersigned organisations, call on the Albanian parliament not to approve the draft media laws known as the “defamation package.” Should the draft laws enter into force, they would introduce mandatory registration requirements for online media and create an administrative body with the power to fine, shut down online media and block foreign online media - all without a court order. They would also introduce state regulation of online media, whic … read more

The long awaited public inquiry into the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia will begin this Friday 6 December at the Law Courts in Valletta. For two years, our organisations have supported the family of Daphne Caruana Galizia in calling for an independent, impartial and effective inquiry. The inquiry will address questions including whether the State knew or ought to have known of the risk to Daphne Caruana Galizia’s life; whether they failed to take measures … read more

Towards a dialogue between journalists and police:

Brussels, Leipzig 4. December 2019: The European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) launches its Press Freedom Police Codex today. The Codex formulates in eight clauses how the police and journalists can work amicably together. The clauses are based on research into areas of conflict between the two professions from all over Europe.  It addresses issues of police violence, surveillance, accreditation, protec … read more

Hungary dismantles media freedom and pluralism

These conclusions reflect the initial findings of the joint mission to Hungary carried out by the International Press Institute (IPI), Article 19, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), Free Press Unlimited (FPU) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF). These findings are additionally supported by the South East Europe … read more

Österreichs Medienfreiheit ist gefährdet. Die Politik der türkis-blauen Regierung hat in den letzten beiden Jahren gezeigt, dass das aktuelle Mediensystem politisch beeinflussbar ist. Allein im ersten Jahr der Regierung Kurz ist Österreich im internationalen Pressefreiheitsranking von Reporter ohne Grenzen um fünf Plätze auf Platz 16 abgerutscht, nahezu die Hälfte der Journalistinnen und Journalisten im Land sehen laut einer Umfrage die Medienfreiheit gefä … read more

ARTICLE 19 and the undersigned organisations call for the governing party in Poland, the Law and Justice party (PiS), and public broadcaster TVP to immediately drop their criminal and civil defamation lawsuits against Professor Wojciech Sadurski, a distinguished constitutional law scholar and public intellectual in Poland.

The cases are based on two tweets he sent criticising the ruling party and state broadcaster. These … read more