MFRR to hold press freedom mission to Italy - Article

From 4 to 6 April, representatives of all partner organisations of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) will be in Italy for a fact-finding mission focused on two main topics: safety of journalists and state protection measures on one side, and SLAPPs against journalists and the need for comprehensive legislative reforms of the framework of defamation and media freedom on the other

Civil society recommendations for an ambitious Rule of Law report in 2022 - Article

OBCT joins 25 civil society organisations for a set of recommendations to strengthen the European Commission's Rule of Law report in 2022

Recommendation CM/Rec(2022)4 of the Committee of Ministers to member States on promoting a favourable environment for quality journalism in the di... - Legal Resources

Adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 17 March 2022 at the 1429^th meeting of the Ministers' Deputies

Global Study: Gender Equality and Media Regulation - Reports

This report aims at understanding the situation regarding gender equality and its connection with freedom of expression in over 100 countries. With a focus on news media, it interrogates how media regulators worldwide have approached the mandate to promote and protect gender equality and women’s freedom of expression, whilst attending to obligations to uphold media freedom

Freedom in the World 2022. The Global Expansion of Authoritarian Rule - Reports

This booklet is a summary of findings for the 2022 edition of Freedom in the World. The complete analysis including narrative reports on all countries and territories can be found at www.freedomhouse.org

Fifteen Organizations Condemn Lawsuit against Forensic News, deeming it a SLAPP - Article

The undersigned organisations express their serious concern at the legal proceedings that have been brought against investigative journalist Scott Stedman, his U.S. media company Forensic News, and three of his colleagues

Spain: Energy company launches €17.6 million SLAPP lawsuit against El Confidencial - Article

MFRR partners condemn the vexatious SLAPP lawsuit against the newspaper El Confidencial by the Spanish electricity company Iberdrola, which is claiming €17.6 million for alleged “reputational damage”. The MFRR partners see the lawsuit as another example of the urgent need for the introduction of anti-SLAPP legislation at the EU and national levels and reform of the current legal provisions on protection of honour and reputation in line with international freedom of expression standards

Increasing the protection of human rights in the face of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation - HTML5 video

Every day across the globe, people bravely speak out against injustice, often at great personal risk. Human rights defenders are at the forefront of promoting and protecting our human rights, natural resources, and shared planet, as well as playing a vital role in drawing attention to the harms created by abusive business practices and monitoring companies’ compliance with business and human rights standards. Human rights defenders are not anti-development, but they are often painted as such and face a range of attacks for merely speaking up against business-related human rights harms, especially in jurisdictions where the rule of law is weak and respect for human rights is lacking.

Needs and Gaps Brief No. 2: Ireland - Article

The second of a series of briefs presenting the results of the forthcoming Needs and Gaps analysis

Curated by Maria Francesca Rita

UN-EU High-level Policy Dialogue on safety of journalists and media freedom - Article

Under the title "Protecting the safety of journalists, media freedom and pluralism in the European Union: challenges and opportunities", a full day of discussions and meetings will analyze the state of media freedom and safety of journalists, collecting recommendations and stories. On 24 February 2022, from 9:30 to 18:00, the event will be both in-person in Brussels, and online