Call for withdrawal of Slovakia’s repressive broadcast law - Article

Slovak government attempts to take over the public broadcaster

Journalists and media freedom groups call for the urgent withdrawal of a proposed legislation allowing political control over public-service media in Slovakia. The bill threatens independent information, especially before the June European Parliament elections, contradicting the recently voted EU's Media Freedom Act

Safeguarding women journalists in the digital age - Article

On International Women’s Day, MFRR coalition partners publish a critical examination of attacks against women journalists in the European Union and candidate countries

Türkiye: Big tech should protect free speech and resist state censorship - Article

Ahead of Türkiye’s municipal elections on 31 March 2024, 22 rights groups and journalists’ organisations jointly call on social media platforms to uphold the free expression rights of their users and resist state censorship. They should also fully disclose all government requests to restrict accounts or content, and be transparent about informal government pressure to restrict content on their platforms.

Slovakia: Lack of justice for Kuciak and Kušnírová’s assassination exacerbated by growing attacks on press freedom - Article

On the sixth anniversary of the brutal killing of investigative reporter Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová, the undersigned organisations renew our call for long-awaited justice for their killings and the imperative to break the cycle of impunity.

Serbia: Court of Appeals acquits suspects of journalist Slavko Ćuruvija’s murder - Article

OBCT and MFRR and SJN partners strongly denounce the decision of the Belgrade Court of Appeals to acquit the four suspects for the murder of Serbian journalist Slavko Ćuruvija

Serbia: media pillory for independent journalists - Article

Verbal attacks and serious threats against two journalists from independent broadcasters, the Cenzolovka portal and even an NGO and a Belgrade court judge raise concerns about the climate of increasingly heavy repression in Serbia

By Massimo Moratti

Originally published by OBCT . Also available in ITA

Romania: MFRR to conduct media freedom mission ahead of super electoral year - Article

On 22-25 January, OBCT and IPI - as part of MFRR - will conduct an on-line fact-finding mission to assess the current state of media freedom in the country 

Silencing Voices in Italy: The Erosion of Media Freedom - Article

Italy's media is in crisis, battling legal onslaughts and facing a surge of censorship one year after the establishment of the far-right government led by Giorgia Meloni

By Sielke Kelner

(Originally published by Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung , 16.01.2024)

Croatia, the assault on the local press - Article

2024 is the year of elections for Croatia: European, political and presidential elections will take place between next June and December. And with the electoral competitions, the race for control of the local media, particularly the regional ones, is gaining ground in a hardly transparent way

By Giovanni Vale 

Originally published by OBCT. Also available in ITA and BHS

Open SLAPP Cases in 2022 and 2023 - The Incidence of Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, and Regulatory Responses in the European Union - Reports

This research, commissioned by the Committee of Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) of the European Parliament, aims to analyze SLAPP cases and threats initiated between 2022 and 2023