In the framework of its activity for the Media Freedom Rapid Response, OBCT is researching the needs of journalists and the existing support systems and centres in Europe and Candidate countries (Albania, the Republic of North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Turkey). We would like to hear directly from subjects who have experienced threats and received support, and from those who contributed to helping journalists. If you are a journalist who suffered threats and was supported in some way, if you are a member of a union or an activist or a lawyer and work for an organisation supporting journalists, or if you work for a media outlet and are aware of threats, please take part in our online survey.
It is totally anonymous and safe. Your participation will give us important information and input for our research and will provide the Media Freedom Rapid Response with useful suggestions on how to better protect and help journalists throughout Europe and in Candidate Countries.
Press and media freedoms are increasingly at risk. Starting from March 2020, the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) monitors violations in all EU Member States and Candidate Countries and documents them on the Mapping Media Freedom mappingmediafreedom.org platform.
Furthermore, the MFRR provides practical and direct support to journalists and media workers who are at risk due to their work through emergency funds, legal aid, training, and shelter programmes. MFRR partners also carry out advocacy missions and awareness-raising campaigns to secure a wider engagement in European civil society with issues related to press and media freedom.
Within the project, OBCT makes further use of its Resource Centre on Media Freedom www.rcmediafreedom.eu to support evidence-informed policymaking and advocacy, and supports QCode Mag in managing the programme Journalists-in-Residence Milan (deadline 15 September).
BH Journalists: government to urgently sanction an official who threatened a journalist of Žurnal
| 12/1/2021The Steering Committee of the BH Journalists Association and the Free Media Help Line strongly condemn the threats made by Adnan Čakalović, senior expert associate of the Sector for Refugees and Displaced Persons at the Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees of BiH, to Zinaida Đelilović, journalist of the online magazine Žurnal
Exclusion by Public Discourse: Media representations of Syrian Refugees in Turkey
Fazıla Mat | 28/12/2020There are two main discourses about Syrian refugees in Turkey's media: they are depicted either as "guests to help" - thus implicating moral superiority over Europe - or as a "threat", highlighting their otherness from the country's socio-cultural identity. Either way, disinformation is everywhere
Bosnia: death threats to journalists of Nezavisne novine
23/12/2020After receiving death threats, editor-in-chief of Nezavisne novine Sandra Gojković-Arbutina is worried that the state will again fail to identify and sanction the perpetrator
EU takes its best action against foreign interference when tackling the big issues
Giorgio Comai | 22/12/2020A swirl of new acts and strategies has been announced in the last couple of weeks by the European Commission, including the European Democracy Action Plan, the Digital Markets Act, and the EU’s Cybersecurity Strategy. If we ask the right questions about foreign interference, these are all part of the answer
"The Russians": the theme of Russian interference in TV series
Irene Dioli | 17/12/2020In recent years, Russia has been increasingly present in the West's hearts, minds, and debates, including in cultural production. Here we talk about three famous television series that brought the theme of Russian interference in the political life of Western countries onto the small screen
The project European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) aims to protect press freedom and to promote transnational public debate on violations registered in the European Union, the Enlargement and the Eastern Partnership countries. In 2018, the project enters its fourth year of activity thanks to the renewed support by the European Commission.
The European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) brings together different European entities working in support of media freedom - the Media Foundation of the Sparkasse Leipzig , initiator of the ECPMF based in Leipzig; the two monitoring centres Oxygen for Information (Rome) and South East Europe Media Organisation (Vienna); Journalismfund.eu (Brussels); and the Institute of European Media Law (Saarbrücken).
Press freedom and freedom of expression have a crucial role for the functioning of democratic societies. Despite this, in Europe journalists are threatened, censured or intimidated and this affects the citizens' right to information. OBC, together with SEEMO , Ossigeno Informazione , Professor Eugenia Siapera (Dublin City University) and a broad network of media partners in 11 European countries, devoted a year to studying the challenges to press freedom and the needs of journalists in Italy, South East Europe and Turkey. The project "Safety Net for European Journalists. A Transnational Network Support for Media Freedom in Italy and South-east Europe" is co-financed by the European Union.
The Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) started in March 2020 as a one-year pilot project co-funded by the European Commission. |