Romania: Publication of stolen pictures of Emilia Șercan and leak from criminal investigation must be investigated swiftly and independently - Article

Ten European and international press freedom and freedom of expression organisations, members of the MFRR and their partners, have reacted to the harassment of Emilia Șercan, expressing serious concerns about the case and its implications for media freedom in Romania. Today, the ten organisations sent an open letter to the Romanian authorities calling for swift and independent investigations. The letter recalls that the threats and harassment of Șercan are set against a background of recent aggression and undue pressure against journalists and media workers in Romania coming from politicians, prosecutors, police, and military officers

The State of Democracy in 2021 - Reports

The report monitors ten issues that are essential for evaluating the state of democracy and rule of law in a country. Among them, it analyses access to information of public interest, public media funding, threats and harassment against journalists and activists, freedom of association and of assembly in Romania

Hungarian Capital in Foreign Media. Three Strategic Models of Influencing the Neighbourhood - Reports

The International Press Institute (IPI) published a new report written by regional media experts and investigative journalists on the investment of Hungarian capital in foreign media and the implications for the spread of Viktor Orbán’s “illiberal” model of media control

EFJ statement on Italian journalists locked up by Romanian anti-vax senator - Article

EFJ statement as part of MFRR on the attack on the RAI crew and the unjustified arrest of the journalists by the Romanian police

News Media Europe - Stakeholders

News Media Europe represents the interests of publishers of newspapers and news media on all platforms.

News Media Europe includes members from Belgium (Flanders), Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Republic of Ireland, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom. The associations from Hungary, Lithuania and Romania have an associated membership.

Greece: Justice Ministry must withdraw proposed amendments on ‘false news’ - Article

MFRR partners understand the threat that misinformation poses, but the passing of heavy-handed legislation is not the correct response, as subjective interpretation of a vaguely worded law can open the door to censorship of legitimate reporting

Romania: filmmakers badly beaten while shooting documentary on illegal logging - Article

On 16 September, two filmmakers and an activist were attacked and badly beaten by a group of 20 armed people while documenting the issue of illegal logging. MFRR partners call on the Romanian authorities to ensure all those responsible are brought to justice

The Resilience Report 2020: How Europe’s independent media dealt with the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 - Reports

This report published by the European Journalism Centre in partnership with Evens Foundation is based on the Resilience Reports, a series of in-depth studies looking at how dozens of news organisations across Europe dealt with the pandemic during the first wave

CEI SEEMO Award for Outstanding Merits in Investigative Journalism - Article

The focus 2021 of the Award is Covid-19. One virus, many stories: investigative reporting on the socio-economic impact of the global pandemic

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