Croatia: International fact-finding mission to assess status of press freedom - Article

The Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) partners will conduct an international mission to assess the current state of press freedom and safety of journalists in Croatia. The mission will take place online between 9 and 20 September 2024

Media Freedom Mission to Romania questions fairness of electoral coverage - Article

Urgent reform of political funding for ‘press and propaganda’ needed to end media dependency on political parties

Serbia: media independence is an exception rather than the rule - Article

Increasing political and financial pressure threatens the independence and editorial autonomy of many media outlets in Serbia. We interviewed Irina Milutinović, Senior Research Associate at the Institute of European Studies in Belgrade and co-author of the Country Report on Serbia of the Media Pluralism Monitor 2023

By Serena Epis

Originally published on OBCT , also available in ITA

Media Capture in the Western Balkans: From captured states to captured media - Reports

The policy brief produced by Southeast European Leadership for Development and Integrity (SELDI)  provides an analytical insight into the mechanisms behind media capture in the Western Balkans countries, as a phenomenon that negatively affects the media landscape in those countries through impairment of media freedom and pluralism. With the region being on track for EU accession, media capture presents a paramount problem that the brief addresses

Report on media freedom in Romania ahead of Super Election Year - Article

Mission report highlights political influence, vexatious lawsuits and online harassment in Romania

Report on media freedom in Romania ahead of Super Election Year - Mission Report on Media Capture, Legal Obstacles and Journalists’ Safety - Reports

Following the online fact finding mission to Romania coordinated by OBCT and IPI, the report explores the challenges faced by Romanian media professionals at a time of political change

Türkiye: Big tech should protect free speech and resist state censorship - Article

Ahead of Türkiye’s municipal elections on 31 March 2024, 22 rights groups and journalists’ organisations jointly call on social media platforms to uphold the free expression rights of their users and resist state censorship. They should also fully disclose all government requests to restrict accounts or content, and be transparent about informal government pressure to restrict content on their platforms.

Croatia, the assault on the local press - Article

2024 is the year of elections for Croatia: European, political and presidential elections will take place between next June and December. And with the electoral competitions, the race for control of the local media, particularly the regional ones, is gaining ground in a hardly transparent way

By Giovanni Vale 

Originally published by OBCT. Also available in ITA and BHS

Trudeau against Facebook: social media, copyright, and information - Article

In protest against the new Canadian law that requires social media to pay news organisations every time a user shares a link, Facebook has blocked access to news portals, earning the condemnation of Prime Minister Trudeau. In Europe, meanwhile, new regulations are on their way on the removal of content, advertising, and disinformation

By Paola Rosà

Originally published by OBCT in ENG and ITA

A letter to the incoming Czech Presidency on the European Media Freedom Act - Article

Ahead of the Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union, we signed a letter to the Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala regarding the forthcoming European Media Freedom Act