Serbia: REM’s awarding of TV licences underscores media pluralism and media diversity failure - Article

The decision made by the Serbia’s Regulatory Body for Electronic Media to award four national FTA TV licences to pro-government outlets perpetuates a deeply unbalanced commercial broadcast media market and is another example of the authority’s failure to protect media diversity and pluralism in Serbia

Malta: Joint statement in support of The Shift News - Article

OBCT co-signed a statement in support of the independent media outlet The Shift News, as it faces a freedom of information battle with the government of Malta

Maja Sever, the first woman to lead the EFJ - Article

Quickly resolving the economic issue relating to journalists, fighting harder against SLAPPs or gag complaints, using the rule of law to improve media conditions. These are the keywords of Maja Sever, the first woman to lead the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)

by Giovanni Vale

A joint statement on the European Media Freedom Act - Article

Along with 17 organisations, OBCT signs a joint statement to address issues around the forthcoming draft proposal for a European Media Freedom Act 

Temporary Relocations. A toolkit - Article

This summary of issues, open questions, recommendations, and suggestions on how to implement a residency programme for journalists under pressure is the result of OBCT research consulting existing literature and conducting several interviews with managers and beneficiaries. This 10-page document goes through the main aspects of the implementation of a journalists-in-residence programme, highlighting 19 issues that are considered to be the most problematic and interesting at the same time. The toolkit is also accessible as a pdf.

Curated by Paola Rosà, May 2022

Turkey: international groups call on parliament to reject the “disinformation” bill as a tool of digital censorship - Article

Law designed to expand censorship online and criminalize free flow of information

Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2022 - Reports

Based on a survey of over 93,000 online news consumers in six continents, the Digital News Report 2022 reveals new insights about digital news consumption

Bulgaria: the media, law, and freedom of information - Legal Resources

Interview with Nelly Ognyanova, a leading Bulgarian expert on media law, by Francesco Martino, OBCT

A series of Thematic Directories. CYBERSECURITY - Article

This series of directories is aimed at helping the user navigate the database of the Resource Centre: it gives some keys of interpretation, selecting items according to a special focus or following a chronological order. This issue concerns cybersecurity and is also available as a pdf

Hungary: Fidesz Media Council moves to silence independent station Tilos Rádió - Article

Steady erosion of media pluralism continues after Orbán re-election