Institute of European Media Law - Stakeholders

The Institute of European Media Law (EMR) is a Europe-wide network of over 180 legal experts based in Saarbrücken (Germany). The EMR was founded in 1990 as a non-profit association; today it is a partner of numerous national and European institutions. The Institute acts as a service provider and neutral platform in a number of fields of media law and policy. Thanks to its network which comprises over 180 national experts from 40 European countries, it is particularly able to carry out comparative legal studies. The EMR organises conferences and publishes research results in different publications, including its own series of books.

EMR is among the funding partners of the ECPMF.

Ossigeno per l'Informazione - Stakeholders

Ossigeno per l’Informazione is a monitoring organization focusing on threatened journalists and news overshadowed by violence in Italy. Ossigeno was established in 2008 by the National Federation of the Italian Press (FNSI) and the Italian Journalists' Order (ODG) together with Libera Informazione, Unione Nazionale Cronisti Italiani and Articolo 21.

Ossigeno aims to document all the Italian cases of violent or abusive limitations on freedom of expression against journalists, writers, intellectuals, politicians, trade unionists, public officials and other citizens, paying special attention to the effects of criminal organisations. The Observatory performs continuous monitoring of threatened journalists, presenting their stories online and through annual reports published in different languages.

Ossigeno also provides pratical support for journalists and media practitioners under threat.

EU Communication Policy in Its Neighbourhood in Light of Third-Party Propaganda - Reports

How EU can face Russian rhetoric and IS propaganda? A report from the Polish Institue of International Affairs

USC Lear Center - Media Impact Project - Stakeholders

The Media Impact Project is a hub for collecting, developing and sharing approaches for measuring the impact of media. Based at the USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center, it seeks to better understand the role that media plays in changing knowledge, attitudes and behavior among individuals and communities.

Joan Shorenstein Fellowship - Opportunities

Fellowship applications open for the Fall 2016 and Spring 2017 semesters, targeting full-time journalist, politician, scholar or policymaker currently active in the field of media, politics and public policy. Deadline: February 1, 2016.

Germany: Press Freedom does not take precedence over relations with Ukraine and Russia - Legal Resources

On 8 December 2015, the 6th Senate of the Higher Administrative Court of Berlin-Brandenburg decided that the Federal Government is not obliged to give information to a representative of the press on a report of the German ambassador in Ukraine

Reuters Institute Journalism Fellowship - Opportunities

Journalists with at least 5 years of working experience can apply for the Thomson Reuters Foundation Fellowship for journalists until January 31, 2016

Media Ownership and Finances in Turkey. Increasing Concentration and Clientelism - Reports

This report explores the mechanisms through which ownership concentration and political clientelism limit media freedom and diversity in Turkey

Media ownership and finances in Kosovo: Legal vacuum and lack of transparency - Reports

This country report by the South East European Media Observatory investigates the lack of transparency in media ownership and financing in Kosovo

RESOURCE CENTRE | About - Article

What?

The Resource Centre on Media Freedom in Europe is an open and ever growing platform providing access to curated contents related to media freedom and pluralism in Europe. Items range from reports to academic sources, from legal tools to practical instruments such as trainings and manuals, as well as opportunities for media professionals and young journalists.

Who?

The platform was developed by Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso Transeuropa (OBCT) as part of the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF). Launched in 2000, OBCT is a think tank focused on South East Europe which supports transnational issues that are crucial for European democracy: one of them is exactly media freedom, and for this reason it has contributed to ECPMF activities since the very start in 2015.

Curated by OBCT, the Resource Centre on Media Freedom in Europe is now a platform that is part of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), a mechanism co-funded by the European Commission which tracks, monitors and responds to threats to journalists and violations of press and media freedom in EU Member States and candidate countries.

How?

Thanks to a real-time research by its curators, the Resource Centre collects and catalogues existing contents and provides different options to access them: by country and by topic. A tools section shows the existing tools for monitoring media freedom, the support centres, stakeholders and training opportunities available, legal resources and datasets.

The first goal of the platform is to make any source easily searchable for different target groups: journalists, policy-makers, scholars, as well as ordinary citizens interested in these crucial issues. The Resource Centre also functions as a networking tool, encouraging the exchange of knowledge among a broad range of actors committed to support media freedom all over Europe. This is done particularly through the crowdsourcing platform, where users can upload and share their own contents. The platform aims to encourage the participation and mutual knowledge of the media community.

Where?

OBCT is based in Italy (Trento), but the Resource Centre has its mind set on Europe (in the broad sense of the term): it was born to be a transnational endeavour to tackle the European dimension of media freedom issues.

When?

The Resource Centre is a young project: it was launched in December 2015. Nevertheless, with over two thousand resources already uploaded, we can say it is a fast-growing kid.

Why?   

The creation of an online Resource Centre on media freedom stems from the consideration that despite the growing pressure on European media, public awareness remains very low. Political and economic pressure, erosion of professional standards and increasing of self-censorship are gradually deteriorating the quality of information together with the new challenges posed by the digitalisation.

On the other side, many associations, NGOs and professional organisations have been carrying out valuable activities of documentation, analysis and advocacy. If existing and valid sources remain fragmented, scattered around the web and therefore difficult to access, it will be impossible to develop an informed and inclusive debate on media freedom. That is why we are building this virtual space of curation as an open map in which reliable contents are selected and presented, and as a space of mutual knowledge for the ever-growing community of stakeholders, driven by a transnational idea of knowledge, responsibility and democracy.