Media

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

11/04/2024

Media freedom advocates condemn 25 years of impunity for journalist Slavko Ćuruvija’s murder, shot in front of his home in Belgrade, and underscore the urgent need for authorities to act and protect press freedom in Serbia

Three years later: still no justice for murdered Greek journalist

09/04/2024

Media freedom advocates reissue call to end impunity on the third anniversary of Giorgos Karaivaz's murder

Media in Albania, under the blows of power

03/04/2024 -  Erion Gjatolli Tirana

The recent angry attack by the Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama against a journalist has brought the constant pressure and intimidation that the power in Albania exerts on the media and media professionals back under the spotlight

Pulse, a new collaborative journalism project on European affairs

26/03/2024 -  Redazione

Last week saw the presentation in Brussels of "PULSE. Europe beyond the beat", an ambitious project coordinated by OBCT aimed at making collaboration among European newsrooms a tool to harness the coverage of European affairs

Serbia: escalating threats and attacks against journalists in Novi Sad

21/03/2024

OBCT shares media freedom partner organisations' concerns on the the escalation of threats and violence suffered by journalists in Novi Sad, northern Serbia, and urges competent authorities to promptly investigate these cases

The MFRR network presents the Monitoring Report 2023

21/03/2024

The partners from the MFRR consortium published the latest edition of the Monitoring Report which documents press and media freedom violations from January to December 2023

North Macedonia, media and public funds

21/03/2024 -  Aleksandar Samardjiev Tetovo

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

The European Parliament adopts the European Media Freedom Act

14/03/2024

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: smear campaign against journalists by parliament presidency

13/03/2024

Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) partner organizations express concern over the discrediting of the prominent Georgian journalist Gela Mtivlishvili by Shalva Papuashvili, Speaker of the Georgian Parliament

Türkiye: a hostile environment for journalists and civil society

12/03/2024

The human rights commission of the Council of Europe publishes a memorandum denouncing the Anatolian country's extreme hostility towards freedom of expression and towards journalists, human rights defenders and civil society

Italy: MFRR partners strongly condemn investigation into Domani journalists

07/03/2024

OBCT and MFRR partners note with concern that Italian press freedom has fallen under renewed pressure. We call for the preliminary investigation of three Domani journalists to be immediately dropped, and we urge Italian authorities to respect the confidentiality of journalistic sources in line with international and European press freedom standards

Türkiye: Big tech should protect free speech and resist state censorship

04/03/2024

22 rights groups and journalists’ organisations jointly call on social media platforms to uphold the free expression rights of their users and resist state censorship

North Macedonia: politics and toxic communication

04/03/2024 -  Aleksandar Samardjiev Tetovo

According to a recent study, public discourse in North Macedonia is saturated with toxic narratives: these are spread not only by political parties and characters, but also by the media, often incapable of carrying out their role as a filter and guarantor towards the public

The Anti-SLAPP Directive creates a promising minimum standard for Member States

29/02/2024

The Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe welcomes the adoption of the Anti-SLAPP Directive in the European Parliament. This directive sets the minimum standards for protecting public watchdogs against abusive litigation in the form of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation

Montenegro: Jelena Jovanović, journalist targeted by the mafia

14/02/2024 -  Vukašin Obradović Podgorica

Dealing with organised crime and risking your life, needing police protection just to be able to do your job and live your everyday life. Jelena Jovanović, journalist from the Montenegrin newspaper Vijesti, explains what it is like to live under police protection

Serbia, no justice for the Ćuruvija murder

07/02/2024 -  Massimo Moratti

Twenty-five years after the murder of journalist Slavko Ćuruvija and nine after the start of the trial against the four accused of the murder, after a first conviction in 2019 and the repetition of the trial, on Monday 5 February the Court of Appeal of Belgrade acquitted the defendants

Croatia, journalists on the streets

02/02/2024 -  Giovanni Vale Zagreb

Hundreds of journalists took to the streets in Zagreb against the Plenković government's amendments to the Criminal Code, which limit the right to report. According to the Association of Croatian Journalists, the prime minister wants to silence investigations into his government's corruption

Report launch: Bosnia and Herzegovina, media freedom in survival mode

26/01/2024

OBCT and MFRR partner organizations published the full report from their international press freedom fact-finding mission that took place last October in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Serbia: media pillory for independent journalists

31/01/2024 -  Massimo Moratti

Verbal attacks and serious threats against two journalists from independent broadcasters, the Cenzolovka portal and even an NGO and a Belgrade court judge raise concerns about the climate of increasingly heavy repression in Serbia

Romania: MFRR to conduct media freedom mission ahead of super electoral year

22/01/2024

On 22-25 January, OBCT and IPI - as part of MFRR - will conduct an on-line fact-finding mission to assess the current state of media freedom in the country

MFRR highlights threats to media freedom in EU Commission’s Rule of Law report

19/01/2024

OBCT and MFRR partners participated in the European Commission's public consultations on the rule of law providing updates on media freedom in EU countries

Greece: Ahead of court hearing, SLAPP lawsuit against media and journalists must be dropped

19/01/2024

OBCT joins international freedom of expression and media freedom organisations in condemning a vexatious lawsuit filed against Greek journalists and media by the nephew of the Prime Minister

Silencing Voices in Italy: The Erosion of Media Freedom

18/01/2024 -  Sielke Kelner

Italy's media is in crisis, battling legal onslaughts and facing a surge of censorship one year after the establishment of the far-right government led by Giorgia Meloni

Albania: SPAK must respect source protection in case of journalist Elton Qyno

11/01/2024

OBCT signed a joint letter together with media freedom partners in the SafeJournalists Network, the Media Freedom Rapid Response, and Reporters Without Borders addressed to the head of the Special Prosecution against Corruption and Organized Crime (SPAK) to raise concerns over the recent attempts to reveal the source of Albanian journalist Elton Qyno

Croatia, the assault on the local press

12/01/2024 -  Giovanni Vale Zagabria

2024 is the year of elections for Croatia: European, political and presidential elections will take place between next June and December. And with the electoral competitions, the race for control of the local media, particularly the regional ones, is gaining ground in a hardly transparent way

Romania, travelling to tell stories

10/01/2024 -  Oana Dumbrava

A journalist and a photographer from Romania have been living in a van for ten years to be able to write their investigations on how life is in Romania and how expatriate Romanians live. They are Elena Stancu and Cosmin Bumbut: we met them

Azerbaijan’s crackdown: same old tactics, just different names

13/12/2023 -  Arzu Geybullayeva

Recently a series of arrests in Azerbaijan, targeting independent media and their few journalists, has brought to mind the repression of civil society and bloggers 10-15 years ago. But has the persecution of Azerbaijan's civil society ever stopped?

Serbia: number of internet-based threats against journalists on the rise

07/12/2023

The Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation has published its third report on the state of freedom of expression in Serbia, encompassing the period from January 2021 to June 2023

Hungary: Draft Sovereignty Protection Act poses fresh threat to independent media

04/12/2023

OBCT joins MFRR partners in drawing the attention of the European Union about the chilling impact of the new Hungarian bill on independent media

North Macedonia: Ruling against Investigative Reporting Lab and its editor must be overturned

24/11/2023

MFRR and SJN express dismay at judge's decision recommending that ministry shuts down one of the country’s leading investigative journalism platforms