Memorandum on freedom of expression and media freedom in Slovenia by the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights - Reports

The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatović, calls on the Slovenian authorities to put a stop to the marked deterioration of freedom of expression and of the media in the country

Turkey: SLAPP lawsuit filed against academic over Paradise Papers tweet - Article

NGOs and journalists’ organisations call for the dropping of a lawsuit launched against the academic Prof Yaman Akdeniz by Serhat Albayrak, seeking 100,000 Turkish lira (€9,600) in damages for his tweets about the censorship of reports into the criminal investigations and civil lawsuits against journalists who reported on the Paradise Papers

Suppressing Stories: How legal threats and challenges impact investigative journalism - Article

An online event organized by the Foreign Policy Centre (FPC), Index on Censorship and the Justice for Journalists Foundation: Tuesday 4 May from 5 to 6.30 pm

ENI's abuse of SLAPPs: a letter to the European Commission - Article

Together with several ngos, we co-signed a letter to the European Commission highlighting the need for the upcoming European Commission’s initiative on SLAPPs to include a legislative proposal for an anti-SLAPP Directive that will protect all watchdogs from SLAPPs and legal intimidation tactics, currently used extensively by fossil fuel companies in Europe. On this occasion, the attention goes to the use of SLAPPs by the partly government-owned Italian oil company Eni Spa (“Eni”), who is suing the Italian paper Il Fatto Quotidiano for 29 articles on the company's activities.

Wanted! Real action for media freedom in Europe - Reports

Annual Report 2021 by the partner organisations to the Council of Europe Platform to Promote the Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists

Romania: concern about abusive legal action by former bishop against journalists and outlets - Article

The undersigned civil society organisations are concerned about the legal action taken by a former bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Church against The Centre for Investigative Media (CIM), Dela0.ro and three journalists, in relation to their reporting on alleged sexual abuse. We consider the proceedings have many of the characteristics of a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) and hope the courts will deal with them swiftly with due respect for European human rights law and standards

Media Freedom and Safety of Journalists in Serbia - Reports

ARTICLE 19 published its report of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) international advocacy mission to Serbia that took place virtually from 29 January to 2 February 2021 in partnership with MFRR members and the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (NUNS). The Center for Human Rights – American Bar Association and the South East Europe Media Organisation also joined the mission

Media Freedom Rapid Response concerned about attacks and threats to journalists reporting on agro-business in Brittany - Article

On Earth Day 2021, the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) is concerned about repeated attacks, threats and intimidation of journalists and media workers reporting on the agro-food industry in Brittany. These attacks, legal threats, harassment and intimidation must end and we call on all relevant public authorities to take the necessary measures to enable critical reporting on this issue

Thematic factsheet: SLAPP in Italy, a democratic emergency - Article

by Paola Rosà

A limited selection of cases from an ocean of lawsuits. A paper sent to the INI rapporteurs of the Draft Report on the strengthening democracy and media freedom and pluralism in the EU: the undue use of actions under civil and criminal law to silence journalists, NGOs and civil society

Against SLAPPs at every level - Article

The new site is online and the CASE, Coalition against Slapps in Europe is calling for help to endorse some initiatives