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.
Poland: MFRR supports Gazeta Wyborcza who has received over 55 threats of legal action
Paola Rosà | 8/7/2020A contribution of €15,000 has been granted to respond to the unprecedented legal threats made against Polish newspaper, Gazeta Wyborcza to support the outlet’s legal defence. The Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), a mechanism to monitor and respond to threats against journalists and media workers in EU Member States and Candidate Countries, is a concrete support against SLAPPs
Serbia: dangerous liaisons
Belgrade | Antonela Riha | 18/6/2020On the eve of the elections, yet another scandal invests Serbia's leadership. A photograph portrays the son of President Vučić at a bar in the company of some other people, including a member of a mafia clan
Turkey: an open call to release the Kurdish journalist Nedim Türfent
16/6/2020Together with more than 40 ngos, we call to the Turkish authorities to free Kurdish journalist Nedim Türfent, who is in jail since May 2016 for false allegations of "terrorism": his only fault was to report on Kurdish issues and on the abuses of Turkish special forces. After almost 1500 days of detention, we invite everybody to sign this call
Albania: public information becomes a casualty of COVID-19
Gentiola Madhi | 11/6/2020COVID-19 has exposed the weaknesses of Albania’s public information. The monopolisation of communication on coronavirus has raised concerns over the government’s accountability on pandemic management as well as media freedom
Jail and defamation: an international call to the Italian Constitutional Court
Paola Rosà | 5/6/2020An historical decision is awaiting journalists and Parliament on June 9th: the Constitutional Court is deciding if prison is a legitimate punishment for defamation. And Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) partners consider this a crucial first step forward
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.
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The Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) started in March 2020 as a one-year pilot project co-funded by the European Commission. |
