Bulgaria Minister urged to drop defamation lawsuit - Article

Media Freedom organizations call on Bulgarian Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov to withdraw charges against two investigative journalists of the Bureau for Investigative Reporting and Data (BIRD)

Petition against attacks on Domani newspaper, and for media freedom in Italy - Article

Over 70 international organisations and media, including the Media Freedom Rapid Response, signed a petition in support of three journalists from the daily newspaper Domani who risk up to nine years in prison. While the European Media Freedom Act promises to strengthen the protection of journalistic sources, in Italy investigative journalism risks being turned into a crime

Safety and justice: demanding accountability for attacks against journalists in Serbia - Article

Media freedom advocates condemn 25 years of impunity for Ćuruvija’s murder

CoE’s Recommendation represents a significant milestone in the fight against SLAPPs - Article

CASE welcomes the Council of Europe’s Recommendation on SLAPPs, approved by the Committee of Ministers today - Friday, 5 April. The Recommendation is comprehensive and, if genuinely implemented, could significantly limit the damage caused by SLAPPs

Report on media freedom in Romania ahead of Super Election Year - Article

Mission report highlights political influence, vexatious lawsuits and online harassment in Romania

North Macedonia, media and public funds - Article

In view of the upcoming political and presidential elections, the Macedonian government has reintroduced forms of public funding for the media. However, the country's media organisations argue that the move may aggravate the influence of political interests on news outlets

By Aleksandar Samardjiev 

Originally published by OBCT, also available in ITA

Serbia: escalating threats and attacks against journalists in Novi Sad - Article

The escalation of threats and violence suffered by journalists in Novi Sad, northern Serbia, has reached an unprecedented level in the past fortnight. OBCT joins the undersigned organisations in urging the Serbian authorities to conduct an immediate and thorough investigation into the persistent attacks on journalists and ensure that perpetrators are prosecuted accordingly

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

Coalition calls for effective implementation as the Parliament adopts the EMFA - Article

OBCT, as part of the EU Media Advocacy Working Group, welcomes the adoption of the European Media Freedom Act by the European Parliament and calls for an effective implementation of the new regulation

Georgia: MFRR partners denounce smear campaign against journalist by speaker of the Parliament - Article

The partner organisations of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) today express concern at the discrediting of a prominent Georgian journalist by Shalva Papuashvili, Speaker of the Georgian Parliament. The comments come amid a broader wave of smear campaigns against independent media in Georgia by Papuashvili and others