SLAPP in Montenegro: between hesitant courts and missed reforms - Article

Strategic lawsuits against public participation remain an under-recognized practice in the country. The ongoing proceedings before the Podgorica court, initiated by Andrej Vučić, brother of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, against the daily newspaper Vijesti, could set an important precedent for establishing judicial practices in handling SLAPPs

By Olivera Nikolic and Massimo Moratty 

Media freedom under electoral siege: money, law, and silence between the lines - Article

When it comes to Macedonian media, Brussels notes “limited progress,” the OSCE warns of unequal access to the media space, and the civil sector speaks of a system of soft censorship and quiet dependence on state funding

By Metamorphosis Foundation

Women journalists in Montenegro, dealing with endless criminal proceedings - Article

Twenty-three-year-old Ivana Vlaović has been working as a journalist for four years, Olivera Lakić for nearly three decades. The two women have never worked together, and they probably have not even met during their field reports. What they have in common, however, is the time they spent in the courtrooms of the Podgorica High Court

By Danijela Lasica 

EU Enlargement Package: Assessments must now translate into meaningful media freedom action - Article

The Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) today welcomes the publication of the 2025 EU Enlargement Package  and highlights key media freedom developments and concerns that should shape negotiations with candidate countries moving forward

Impunity Day: MFRR renews urgent call for justice for murdered journalists around Europe - Article

To mark the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists on November 2, the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) honours the memory of those who have lost their lives in the pursuit of truth and demands justice for the crimes committed against them

Media freedom, a prerequisite for EU enlargement - Article

To advance in their European integration path, Western Balkan candidate countries must ensure media freedom and pluralism. For Montenegro and North Macedonia, this means moving beyond formal commitments and demonstrating through concrete actions that democratic reforms are more than words on paper

Car bomb attack on investigative journalist Sigfrido Ranucci rings alarm for media freedom in Italy - Article

OBCT joins the undersigned journalists and media freedom organisations in strongly condemning the car bomb attack on one of Italy’s leading investigative journalist and his family. We welcome the opening of an investigation by the Anti-Mafia Investigation Division and call for an urgent assessment of the effectiveness of the protective measures applied to the journalist

Call on President von der Leyen to address media freedom crisis in the Western Balkans - Article

Against the backdrop of a rapidly worsening media freedom crisis across the region, most prominently in Serbia, a coalition of international media freedom, journalists’ and freedom of expression organizations calls on European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to raise the threats to the protection of journalists and media pluralism with the respective authorities during her visit to the Western Balkans this week (13-16 October)

Georgia: urgent action to safeguard independent journalism - Article

The undersigned media freedom, journalists’, and freedom of expression organisations strongly condemn the intensifying crackdown on Georgian journalists and press freedom defenders who continue to face institutional repression and physical attacks.

Bulgaria: Press Freedom Undermined by Political Polarisation and Delayed Reforms - Article

Media freedom in Bulgaria faces entrenched challenges in a climate of political polarisation and legislative inertia, with urgent action needed by government and public authorities to push forward both domestic and EU-mandated reforms, a coalition of international press freedom organisations said today