Surveying the landscape - Initiatives to counter spyware - HTML5 video

Within the context of the 2023 MFRR Summit dedicated to “Press Freedom on the Line” - which took place from the 29 to the 31 of March - this discussion explored the strengths and weaknesses of the current draft of Article 4 of the EMFA, through a comparative analysis of the existing independent authorities that the article requires member states to designate, in order to deal with complaints about breaches of provisions of the article itself. The lack of judicial ex-ante evaluation mechanisms were discussed as a key missing element which has attracted much criticism from media-focused NGOs and civil society organisations which have been called upon to provide feedback by the Commission.

European Media Freedom Act: the end of source confidentiality? - Article

The new European regulation aims to protect the secrecy of journalistic sources, the key concept at the heart of journalism, but actually risks legitimising its systematic violation

By Dimitri Bettoni

Originally published by OBCT. Also available in ITA

Civic Intelligence Oversight: Practitioners’ Perspectives in France, Germany, and the UK - Reports

The article explores the forms of civic engagement and oversight holding intelligence agencies to account, counteracting the primacy of security and the secrecy of intelligence, with a focus on journalism and NGOs

Fieldwork Under Surveillance: A Research Note - Reports

Ethical and methodological challenges of conducting research “under surveillance”

PEGA Committee final report - Reports

The conclusive report of the PEGA Committee from the European Parliamenton the use of Pegasus and equivalent surveillance spyware in the EU

Turkey: how the secret services can destroy a journalist's life - Article

The difficulties of working in the media, the fragility of refugee status: the story of a journalist that the Turkish state wanted for itself

By Dimitri Bettoni 

Originally published by OBCT, also available in ITA