Resolution 2382 (2021) of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe: Media freedom, public trust and the people’s right to know - Legal Resources

With 111 votes in favor, 4 against and 16 abstensions, the PACE adopted a resolution promoted one year and a half ago by the Italian Roberto Rampi. The motion stated that "today, human rights, democracy and the rule of law are challenged by post-truth narratives, which are unfortunately gaining strength and public support. At the same time, the concentration and lack of transparency of media ownership hamper true media pluralism, and recurrent attempts to manipulate public opinion undermine constructive public debate. In this alarming context, people are losing their entitlement to a free and conscious self-determination, and public trust in media and democratic institutions is declining"

Saving the News - Why the Constitution Calls for Government Action to Preserve Freedom of Speech - Books

American legal scholar Martha Minow poses timely questions related to the need of government support aimed at ensuring the independence and vitality of the free press

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

Europe’s media in the digital decade - Reports

An action plan to support recovery and transformation in the news media sector. A study requested by the European Parliament's Committee on Culture and Education

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

Open Letter to Croatian Minister of Justice to free whistleblower Jonathan Taylor - Article

Arrested last July, the British lawyer is still in Croatia at risk of extradiction to Monaco. The MFRR partners and several ngos ask Croatia to protect him

MFRR raises concerns over increasing meddling in independence of Czech public broadcaster - Article

The partner organisations of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) express their serious concern over the latest efforts by the ruling ANO party and its allies to further politicise the oversight body of the Czech public broadcaster.

We are worried that the slow-motion yet obvious efforts to stack the Council of the Czech TV (ČT Council) are ultimately aimed at the erosion of the public television’s independence and politically-motivated realignment of its news and opinion programming

The Chilling: Global trends in online violence against women journalists - Reports

“First, I’m attacked for being a journalist, second I’m attacked for being a woman" (Maria Ressa). Women journalists are now more exposed to online violence than ever. Women journalists are both the primary targets of online violence and the first responders to it

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

Solidarity with the Swedish media outlet Realtid ahead of the first hearing in their UK defamation case - Article

Twenty-four organisations express their solidarity with the Swedish business and finance publication, Realtid, its editor, and the two journalists being sued for defamation in London. Realtid are due before the High Court tomorrow for a two-day remote hearing that will decide whether England and Wales is the appropriate jurisdiction for the case to be heard