Analyses on specific aspects related to press and media freedom, performed and published by research centres, non-governmental organizations and public bodies
In this article, Francesca Rizzuto examines how Italian local journalists experience hate speech in the digital environment and how they respond to it. Based on 10 in-depth interviews, the study explores how social media has transformed local news practices and how online hostility affects journalists, both professionally and personally.
In this paper, Sokol and Gačanica (Mediacentar Sarajevo) analyze the legal and institutional framework for freedom of expression and media freedoms in Bosnia and Herzegovina. They assess it against international standards, the European Court of Human Rights and the EU acquis, using legal analysis, secondary literature and twelve interviews with legal experts and media and institutional representatives.
In this article, Maniou and Papadopoulou ask whether female journalists enjoy the same level of press freedom as their male colleagues in the digital age. Using incidents recorded by Mapping Media Freedom and the reports of the Coalition For Women In Journalism (2020-2024), they document threats against women and non-binary journalists in western media systems.
In this article, Elena Rodina and Olga Dovbysh examine how Russian journalists exiled since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine navigate a dual identity: new migrants who must adapt to a host country, and media professionals who must stay close to a homeland they cannot return to.
This paper examines how intrusive spyware targeting journalists undermines the public sphere. Through a comparative analysis of Greece, Italy, and Spain, it assesses legal safeguards against surveillance under Article 4 of the European Media Freedom Act. Findings reveal fragmented national frameworks with inadequate journalist protections, generating chilling effects that threaten investigative journalism and democratic accountability across EU member states.
Aleksandra Dragojlov's article examines how political clientelism has systematically shaped Serbia's media landscape under the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) since 2012. Despite formal legislative reforms in 2014 and 2023 that ostensibly aimed to reduce state involvement in media operations, the government has employed more subtle, indirect mechanisms of control.
This Legal and Policy Report, authored by Andrea Oleandri and produced within the STRIVE 2026 project supported by the Civil Liberties Union for Europe (Liberties) and the European Union, argues that the quality of a democracy depends on the quality of its information space, and that the traditional framing of press freedom—centred on protecting individual expression from state censorship—is no longer sufficient to guarantee a genuinely free and pluralistic media environment
OBCT, the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) partners and the Council of Europe’s Safety of Journalists Platform present a report which outlines the deteriorating situation for media freedom and safety of journalists in Serbia. The report is a result of an international mission to Belgrade that took place in March 2026.
In the context of Moldova’s accession process to the EU, the Independent Journalism Center (IJC) has published a legal analysis of the recent legislative efforts introduces to counter vexatious lawsuits
Media freedom, European integration, and reform processes in Moldova are the central themes of the recent shadow report published by the Independent Journalism Center (IJC) in collaboration with OBCT and ActiveWatch
