Remembrance Day for Killed Journalists in Russia - Wikipedia Item

December 15 is the Remembrance Day of Journalists Killed on the Line of Duty in the Russian Federation. 

Wikipedia tracks the dire situation of press and media freedom in Russia in several way. It includes a general article on the Media of Russia as well as a more specific one on Freedom of the Press in Russia, with a section on cases of assaults on journalists. The List of journalists killed in Russia includes the names of over 200 media professionals killed over the last 25 years in the Russian Federation. 

Among them, the Wikipedian in Residence at Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso has already provided for translations into Italian of the pages about Natalya Estemirova,  Larisa Yudina,  Andrey Stenin,  Sergei Dubov,  Kazbek Gekkiyev,  Akhmednabi Akhmednabiyev, Oleg Slabynko,  Stanislav Markelov, and  Gadzhi Abashilov. The page on Akhmednabi Akhmednabiyev was also translated into Russian.

EU Communication Policy in Its Neighbourhood in Light of Third-Party Propaganda - Reports

How EU can face Russian rhetoric and IS propaganda? A report from the Polish Institue of International Affairs

Training Manual on litigation of freedom of expression in East Africa - Manuals

This module is designed to assist applicants in cases relating to freedom of expression and the rights of the media at the regional level, in East Africa. The module describes the processes and procedures for filing and arguing human rights cases before the three regional courts in Africa

Bad Practices, Bad Faith: Soft Censorship in Macedonia - Reports

The practice of soft censorship is undermining the media industry across Macedonia through financial incentives and partisan influence

Access to Public Information in Georgia (2010 – 2015) - Reports

This report analyses several Georgian state institutions and assesses how they provide information to the public

Germany: Press Freedom does not take precedence over relations with Ukraine and Russia - Legal Resources

On 8 December 2015, the 6th Senate of the Higher Administrative Court of Berlin-Brandenburg decided that the Federal Government is not obliged to give information to a representative of the press on a report of the German ambassador in Ukraine

Macedonia in the digital age – between the rights and responsibilities while communicating on Internet - Reports

An overview of the legal framework, the implementation and the role of the self-regulatory mechanisms in the sphere of online media and communications in Macedonia

Index of Censorship - Mapping media freedom - Monitoring tool

Journalists and media workers are confronting relentless pressure simply for doing their job. Mapping Media Freedom identifies threats, violations and limitations faced by members of the press throughout European Union member states, candidates for entry and neighbouring countries

Council of Europe - Platform: protection of journalism and safety of journalists - Monitoring tool

In 2015, the Council of Europe established the Platform to promote the protection of journalism and safety of journalists to facilitate the compilation, processing and dissemination of information on serious concerns about media freedom and safety of journalists in Council of Europe member States

RESOURCE CENTRE | About - Article

What?

The Resource Centre on Media Freedom in Europe is an open and ever growing platform providing access to curated contents related to media freedom and pluralism in Europe. Items range from reports to academic sources, from legal tools to practical instruments such as trainings and manuals, as well as opportunities for media professionals and young journalists.

Who?

The platform was developed by Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso Transeuropa (OBCT) as part of the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF). Launched in 2000, OBCT is a think tank focused on South East Europe which supports transnational issues that are crucial for European democracy: one of them is exactly media freedom, and for this reason it has contributed to ECPMF activities since the very start in 2015.

Curated by OBCT, the Resource Centre on Media Freedom in Europe is now a platform that is part of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), a mechanism co-funded by the European Commission which tracks, monitors and responds to threats to journalists and violations of press and media freedom in EU Member States and candidate countries.

How?

Thanks to a real-time research by its curators, the Resource Centre collects and catalogues existing contents and provides different options to access them: by country and by topic. A tools section shows the existing tools for monitoring media freedom, the support centres, stakeholders and training opportunities available, legal resources and datasets.

The first goal of the platform is to make any source easily searchable for different target groups: journalists, policy-makers, scholars, as well as ordinary citizens interested in these crucial issues. The Resource Centre also functions as a networking tool, encouraging the exchange of knowledge among a broad range of actors committed to support media freedom all over Europe. This is done particularly through the crowdsourcing platform, where users can upload and share their own contents. The platform aims to encourage the participation and mutual knowledge of the media community.

Where?

OBCT is based in Italy (Trento), but the Resource Centre has its mind set on Europe (in the broad sense of the term): it was born to be a transnational endeavour to tackle the European dimension of media freedom issues.

When?

The Resource Centre is a young project: it was launched in December 2015. Nevertheless, with over two thousand resources already uploaded, we can say it is a fast-growing kid.

Why?   

The creation of an online Resource Centre on media freedom stems from the consideration that despite the growing pressure on European media, public awareness remains very low. Political and economic pressure, erosion of professional standards and increasing of self-censorship are gradually deteriorating the quality of information together with the new challenges posed by the digitalisation.

On the other side, many associations, NGOs and professional organisations have been carrying out valuable activities of documentation, analysis and advocacy. If existing and valid sources remain fragmented, scattered around the web and therefore difficult to access, it will be impossible to develop an informed and inclusive debate on media freedom. That is why we are building this virtual space of curation as an open map in which reliable contents are selected and presented, and as a space of mutual knowledge for the ever-growing community of stakeholders, driven by a transnational idea of knowledge, responsibility and democracy.