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News related to press and media freedom

Last days to advocate against SLAPPs

28/01/2022

The CASE, Coalition against SLAPPs in Europe, will deliver the petition to the vice president of the European Commission Vera Jourova: hundreds of organizations all over Europe are asking for remedies and proposals to tackle strategic lawsuits against public participation

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Lithuania: investigative journalism and privacy

27/01/2022

Today, the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) partner organisations and the Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation have written to Director Raimondas Andrijauskas and Deputy Director Danguolė Morkūnienė of the Lithuanian State Data Protection Inspectorate (SDPI)’s to express concern at their attempted obstruction of investigative project “Karštos Pėdos” (“Hot Feet”)’s journalistic activity

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Greece: Concern over criminal charges against investigative reporters

20/01/2022

The criminal charges against Kostas Vaxevanis and Ioanna Papadakou are extremely serious. The nature of the charges, their connection to investigative reporting on corruption, and the potential imprisonment of two journalists in an EU Member State, raise legitimate concerns regarding press freedom. Our organisations are closely following this case, demanding judicial authorities to act with full regard for press freedom standards

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Montenegro: Impunity must end for shooting of journalist Olivera Lakić

19/01/2022

MFRR praises cross-party approval of legislation strengthening protection of journalists

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Index reiterates its support for Carole Cadwalladr as she faces SLAPP trial

14/01/2022

We join other ngos and organizations in supporting the award-winning journalist who is facing a week-long defamation trial in London this week

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SLAPP and democracy, side effects and collateral damage

10/01/2022

Strategic lawsuits against public participation heavily impact on the citizens' right to be informed - that is why society needs to be able to respond to and to prevent this kind of abuse of legal tools. Here is a series of analysis and perspectives inspired by cases involving journalists and human rights defenders in Italy

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Netherlands: International mission on the safety of Dutch journalists

05/01/2022

As part of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), Free Press Unlimited (FPU) and the European Center for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) are organising an international media freedom mission to the Netherlands. With the mission, the consortium members want to map the decreasing security of journalists in the country, but also highlight the existence of security mechanisms for journalists such as the PersVeilig (Press Safe) established in 2019. The mission will be held at the beginning of 2022

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Poland: Media freedom groups urge President Duda to veto ‘Lex-TVN’

22/12/2021

We signed a letter to President Duda urging him to apply a presidential veto to the so-called "Lex-TVN". The bill is not a principled and proportionate effort to protect the Polish information landscape, but a way to undermine one particular outlet that is part of a wider effort to “repolonise” the media

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Serbia: Wave of lawsuits against investigative portal KRIK chills media freedom

21/12/2021

In recent months, KRIK’s newsroom has been targeted by ten different procedures requesting a total of 90 million dinars in damages. MFRR partners believe that these cases are a form of SLAPPs and demand urgent actions to address the growing phenomenon in the country

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Germany: MFRR expresses concern over rising attacks against journalists covering protests

20/12/2021

The undersigned partners of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) today express their concern about the increasing number of attacks against journalists across Germany, particularly in the context of anti-vaccine demonstrations. We call for better safety measures and protection as well as thorough investigations of attacks against journalists covering such demonstrations. Moreover, preventative measures are needed to stop such attacks from happening. Finally, we encourage media workers to report press and media freedom violations

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