Poland: Media freedom groups urge President Duda to veto ‘Lex-TVN’ - Article

We signed a letter to President Duda urging him to apply a presidential veto to the so-called "Lex-TVN". The bill is not a principled and proportionate effort to protect the Polish information landscape, but a way to undermine one particular outlet that is part of a wider effort to “repolonise” the media

Serbia: Wave of lawsuits against investigative portal KRIK chills media freedom - Article

In recent months, KRIK’s newsroom has been targeted by ten different procedures requesting a total of 90 million dinars in damages. MFRR partners believe that these cases are a form of SLAPPs and demand urgent actions to address the growing phenomenon in the country 

Germany: MFRR expresses concern over rising attacks against journalists covering protests - Article

The undersigned partners of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) today express their concern about the increasing number of attacks against journalists across Germany, particularly in the context of anti-vaccine demonstrations. We call for better safety measures and protection as well as thorough investigations of attacks against journalists covering such demonstrations. Moreover, preventative measures are needed to stop such attacks from happening. Finally, we encourage media workers to report press and media freedom violations

Shape the DSA so it can empower all users to act against wrongful platform decisions - Article

We co-signed an open letter to Members of the European Parliament promoted by EU DisinfoLab and HateAid concerning the need to fix asymmetries between users and platforms

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

Poland: journalist’s criminal defamation conviction may further impair freedom of expression - Article

MFRR partners stand in solidarity with Polityka journalist Ewa Siedlecka, who has been convicted of criminal defamation. Amid the ongoing erosion of media freedom in Poland, there is a justified fear that this verdict might pave the way for a wider criminalisation of expressing an opinion based on information present in the public space

State of SLAPPs in Serbia - Reports

The latest report by ARTICLE 19, the American Bar Association (ABA) Center for Human Rights, and the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (NUNS), analyses the provisions that are most commonly misused to file SLAPPs, strategic lawsuits against public participation, in Serbia. The report highlights patterns from multiple cases brought against journalists and activists by public officials and other powerful individuals in the past 10 years

MFRR Monitoring Report: January - June 2021 - Reports

The MFRR monitoring report summarises press and media freedom violations across EU Member States and candidate countries from January 2021 until June 2021. Throughout the reporting period, 272 alerts have been documented, ranging from verbal attacks to legal incidents. 438 individuals or media entities in 26 countries have been subject to one or more press freedom violations

Needs and Gaps Brief No. 1: Italy - Article

The first of a series of briefs presenting the results of the forthcoming Needs and Gaps analysis

Curated by Maria Francesca Rita