MFRR to hold press freedom mission to Italy - Article

From 4 to 6 April, representatives of all partner organisations of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) will be in Italy for a fact-finding mission focused on two main topics: safety of journalists and state protection measures on one side, and SLAPPs against journalists and the need for comprehensive legislative reforms of the framework of defamation and media freedom on the other

New report by the Media Freedom Rapid Response finds systemic challenges to press freedom in Greece - Article

Today, the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) publishes the report “Controlling the Message: Challenges for independent reporting in Greece”, which details the findings and recommendations of its online fact-finding mission to Greece

Civil society recommendations for an ambitious Rule of Law report in 2022 - Article

OBCT joins 25 civil society organisations for a set of recommendations to strengthen the European Commission's Rule of Law report in 2022

Recommendation CM/Rec(2022)4 of the Committee of Ministers to member States on promoting a favourable environment for quality journalism in the di... - Legal Resources

Adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 17 March 2022 at the 1429^th meeting of the Ministers' Deputies

Spain: Energy company launches €17.6 million SLAPP lawsuit against El Confidencial - Article

MFRR partners condemn the vexatious SLAPP lawsuit against the newspaper El Confidencial by the Spanish electricity company Iberdrola, which is claiming €17.6 million for alleged “reputational damage”. The MFRR partners see the lawsuit as another example of the urgent need for the introduction of anti-SLAPP legislation at the EU and national levels and reform of the current legal provisions on protection of honour and reputation in line with international freedom of expression standards

UN-EU High-level Policy Dialogue on safety of journalists and media freedom - Article

Under the title "Protecting the safety of journalists, media freedom and pluralism in the European Union: challenges and opportunities", a full day of discussions and meetings will analyze the state of media freedom and safety of journalists, collecting recommendations and stories. On 24 February 2022, from 9:30 to 18:00, the event will be both in-person in Brussels, and online

European Media and Platform Policy (EuromediApp) - Stakeholders

European Media and Platform Policy (EuromediApp) is a Jean Monnet network dedicated to studying, analysing and discussing benefits and challenges of digital platforms in Europe and world-wide.

By bringing together knowledge and research capacity from all over Europe and beyond, EuromediApp provides space for national and transnational deliberation on how future digital services should and will be governed. Working papers, teaching material, workshops, conferences and dedicated schools for advanced students are our working tools.

EuromediApp operates for three years (2020 – 2023) along three modules:

1. European political democracy (inclusion and exclusion, diversity and uniformity, trust and distrust);
2. Quality of European (news) ecology, including journalism, individualised procedures of political information, populism, polarisation and depolarisation, personalisation, scandalisation, information/propaganda/misinformation; and
3. European governance models of digital media and the internet by media/platform companies and governments, utopian and dystopian views of digital media and democracy.

Greece: Concern over criminal charges against investigative reporters - Article

The criminal charges against Kostas Vaxevanis and Ioanna Papadakou are extremely serious. The nature of the charges, their connection to investigative reporting on corruption, and the potential imprisonment of two journalists in an EU Member State, raise legitimate concerns regarding press freedom. Our organisations are closely following this case, demanding judicial authorities to act with full regard for press freedom standards 

Serbia: MFRR welcomes renewed convictions for murder of Slavko Ćuruvija - Article

We joined our MFRR partners in welcoming the confirmed guilty verdicts for the murder in 1999 of journalist and editor-in-chied Slavko Ćuruvija. The decision represents an important step in the long fight against impunity for the killing of journalists in Serbia

Serbia: Penal Code amendments require open and comprehensive debate - Article

We co-signed a statement calling for a broader and open consultation on the amendments of the Penal Code proposed by the Ministry of Justice