Serbia: Spyware attacks on BIRN journalists further deepen press freedom crisis - Article

Further alarm about the deepening press freedom crisis: revelations showing evidence of the abuse of advanced Pegasus spyware

MFRR Press Freedom Fact Sheet 2025 - Spyware and surveillance - Reports

Fact sheet on spyware abuse, produced by the MFRR consortium based on carefully verified data collected on the MMF platform

Liberties Report 2025: Democratic Decline Deepens - Article

The Rule of Law Report by the Civil Liberties Union for Europe highlights a serious deterioration in the rule of law across Europe in 2024. The report ranks Italy alongside Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, and Slovakia among the countries facing the most critical issues

Source: CILD - Coalizione Italiana Diritti Civili 

Romania: Answers needed over surveillance of investigative journalist - Article

Disturbing revelations about the physical surveillance and wiretapping of Victor Ilie, Romanian investigative journalist, by the Romanian National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA).

SafeJournalists Network and Media Freedom Rapid Response: TikTok ban in Albania threatens freedom of expression ahead of general elections - Article

SafeJournalists Network (SJN), the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) partners, and civil society organizations express serious concern regarding the Albanian Council of Ministers' decision to suspend nationwide access to the TikTok platform for 12 months

Serbia: MFRR and SJN urgently call to stop targeting and intimidating journalists - Article

OBCT, together with its partners from the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) and the SafeJournalists Network (SJN), strongly condemns the increasing and systematic attacks on journalists and NGOs in Serbia

Croatia: Tackling political pressure, legal challenges and precarity to revive media freedom - Article

Outdated media laws, compromised public media independence, SLAPPs, as well as mounting economic, political, and physical pressures are undermining journalism and media freedom in Croatia, as outlined in the latest Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) report

USAID suspension in BiH, a hard blow to media and civil society - Article

The suspension of the US government's international aid programmes, one of the first decisions taken by Donald Trump after taking office, has triggered a wave of uncertainty around the world, and Bosnia and Herzegovina is no exception

By Darko Kurić

Originally published by OBCT. Also available in ITA and BHS 

Italy: MFRR calls for full transparency after Fanpage editor-in-chief surveilled with spyware technology - Article

The partner organisations of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) today urge Italian authorities to shed full light on the recent surveillance of an editor-in-chief in Italy and others using spyware technology developed by Israeli firm Paragon Solutions. 

Condemnation of legal threats against Danwatch by Ingosstrakh and ELWI - Article

OBCT joins free expression organizations in denouncing legal threats issued by a Moscow-based law firm against the Danish investigative media outlet Danwatch