Digital Freedom Fund (DFF) - Support Centres

The Digital Freedom Fund supports Europe’s digital rights litigators – NGOs, pro bono lawyers and sometimes regular litigators – enabling them to become more effective in their work. They do this in a number of ways:

- through grants to support the legal, advocacy, research, and other costs involved in litigation;

- through facilitating digital rights actors’ access to pro-bono legal support.

DFF is supported by Open Society Foundations, Adessium Foundation, Omidyar Network, Renewable Freedom Foundation and the Democracy and Media Foundation.

E-mail: grants@digitalfreedomfund.org

Tackling fake news, the Italian way - Legal Resources

As measures against fake news are widely debated across Europe, the protocol adopted by the Italian Interior Ministry on the eve of political elections, enabling the Postal Police to fact-check and report contents, has caused concern in the public debate

The Oxygen of Amplification - Reports

The report, written by digital media scholar Whitney Phillips for Data&Society, shows how the far-right manipulated the media in 2016, discusses the relation between reporting and amplifying extremist ideology and suggests some tips to journalists on when and how to cover online harassment campaigns and manipulations

Developing a disinformation detection system and sourcing it live – The case study of the 2018 Italian elections - Reports

EU DisinfoLab developed a system for monitoring disinformation based on an identified ecosystem rather than on a series of keywords. They tested it on the 2018 Italian general elections

News Media in Western Europe: Populist Views Divide Public Opinion - Reports

A team at the Pew Research Center conducted a public opinion survey in eight countries of Western Europe about trust in news media in relation to how people place themselves on a left/right and on a populist/non-populist axis. Attention was also given to how people use social media as a source for news

"Journalism & Political Education in the Social Web”. Call for applicants for young journalists - Training

Call for applicants for M100 Young European Journalists Workshop in Potsdam, Germany (September 10 – 19 , 2018)

Defending Free Speech - Reports

This report by the Swedish Government presents an action plan to safeguard and strengthen the democratic discourse against threats and hatred, with special regard to politically elected representatives, journalists and artists 

Media freedom in Bulgaria - Article

The fourth of a series of thematic itineraries to explore the Resource Centre on Media Freedom through a curated aggregation of contents. The text has been kindly proof-read by Dr. Lada Price from Sheffield Hallam University - CFOM and AEJ - Bulgaria

European Parliament resolution of 3 May 2018 on media pluralism and media freedom in the European Union (2017/2209(INI)) - Legal Resources

After the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta in October 2017 and Jan Kuciak in Slovakia in February 2018, three MEPs promoted the adoption of this Resolution and continued advocating for anti-SLAPP measures and intiatives to protect journalists

Nations in Transit 2018 - Romania Country Report - Reports

The "Nations in Transit" Report on Romania by Freedom House (2018) provides an overview of the country's democratic institutions, including a section devoted to independent media. This digest focuses on this section