News

Women journalists and media workers: MFRR submission to the United Nations Special Rapporteur

16/06/2021

Across Europe, online and offline verbal abuse, threats and harassment disproportionately affect women journalists and media workers. This submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression to inform her thematic report on gender justice considers barriers, challenges and threats that women journalists and media workers face in the exercise of their profession

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Poland: PKN Orlen media purchase violates EU merger rules and media pluralism standards

14/06/2021

MFRR supports ARTICLE 19 legal opinion submitted to Warsaw competition court

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MFRR letter to US President Biden

14/06/2021

The Media Freedom Rapid Response urges the President of the United Stated, in Brussel for a NATO summit, to support efforts by the European Commission to demand reform in Poland and Hungary that guarantee media pluralism and independent journalism

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Bulgaria: MFRR partners ask the interim government to examine the state of media freedom in the country

09/06/2021

Improvement of the situation in Bulgaria needs significant will, as well as a broader recognition of the fundamental role that independent journalism plays for the society. MFRR asks the interim government to prioritise the investigation of threats and attacks against journalists

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Slovenia: MFRR dismayed by Prime Minister Janša’s denigrating tweet

09/06/2021

MFRR partners call on Prime Minister Janez Janša to cease denigrating Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatović, and her recent memorandum on freedom of expression and media freedom in Slovenia

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EDMO Week: United Against Disinformation

07/06/2021

To mark its first year of activities, the European Digital Media Observatory will hold its first annual conference, EDMO Week: United Against Disinformation, on 7-11 June bringing together stakeholders working to tackle online disinformation, including researchers, regulatory authorities, online platforms, civil society, and the policy sector

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ENRC sues public watchdogs: an attempt to curtail freedom of expression and jeopardise anti-corruption efforts

07/06/2021

OBCT co-signed a statement by Index on Censorship on the abuse of lawsuits by Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation Limited

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Serbia: investigative outlet KRIK sued by state security agency director

04/06/2021

The Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) is deeply concerned by the lawsuit targeted at a journalist and the editor-in-chief of the Network for Investigation of Crime and Corruption (KRIK) by the director of Serbia’s Security-Information Agency (BIA)

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Open letter to the WHO in defence of whistleblowing

28/05/2021

The Whistleblowing International Network, Transparency International, and the Government Accountability Project, with the support of 40 anti-corruption, public health, and whistleblower protection organisations write to urge the assembled members to ensure that there is an independent review of the disclosures made by Dr Zambon, and a commitment from the WHO to reform its whistleblowing mechanisms and ensure the independence of its justice system for future WHO whistleblowers

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Turkey: SLAPP lawsuit filed against academic over Paradise Papers tweet

28/05/2021

NGOs and journalists’ organisations call for the dropping of a lawsuit launched against the academic Prof Yaman Akdeniz by Serhat Albayrak, seeking 100,000 Turkish lira (€9,600) in damages for his tweets about the censorship of reports into the criminal investigations and civil lawsuits against journalists who reported on the Paradise Papers

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