Focus on Media Freedom

The AEJ is an official Observer in the Council of Europe's Media Steering Committee.

The AEJ’s Media Freedom Representative, William Horsley, with other media and NGO organisations, has called on Member States to fulfil their 2009 pledge to ensure that national anti-terrorism laws are not misused to block legitimate freedom of expression.

The AEJ welcomes the focus on media freedom in the Decision by Ministers’ Deputies, but questions the failure to adopt more far-reaching measures to counter attacks on journalists’ lives and work.

» Full report on the AEJ-EP Seminar on Media Freedom in the EU
» AEJ Media Freedom Representative: Proposals for EU Action
» Council of Europe 2012 Decision on Media Freedom
» AEJ finds media freedom crumbling across eastern Europe

Read more:
» AEJ MF Project
» AEJ MF Representative
» AEJ MF Surveys and Reports
» AEJ & the Council of Europe
» World Press Freedom Day

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AEJ News

Tuesday, April 13, 2021

EUROPE MUST STAND UP TO “CREEPING ORBANISATION”

The Hungarian government has grossly abused the Corona pandemic to further tighten control of the media, an online conference organised by the Austrian AEJ heard yesterday from Katalin Halmai. Veteran Brussels correspondent of Nepszava, the last independent Budapest daily, Mrs Halmai described how Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s nationalist-conservative Fidesz government had expanded its already tight control over the media. In an open letter 28 Hungarian media had demanded the return of free access to hospitals and interviews with medical staff. Altogether 225 questions addressed by media to the Corona Task Force had gone unanswered, she said. Government-controlled media had concealed the real number of deaths or of patients in intensive care, and the regional breakdown of the pandemic.

Monday, April 12, 2021

Aej President to Commission: "Enough is enough"

Facebook’s shamelessness with the personal data of its 2.8 billion users had now gone too far, AEJ President Saia Tsaousidou said today. In a conference call to the European External Action Service she called for the EU institutions to redouble their efforts to legislate against Silicon Valley’s blatant abuse of social media data. “We are slowly learning that 533 million Facebook users’ information has been breached,” she said. “It kept quiet for four days and repeatedly refused to answer questions from journalists. Enough is enough”. In Greece alone 1 m Facebook users had lost their data, she said. The President praised the pioneering work of British journalist Carole Cadwalladr in exposing case after case of abuse of data, notably the still-unresolved issue of Cambridge Analytica’s manipulation of the Brexit referendum using Facebook data.

Monday, April 12, 2021

Applications for 10 000€ prize

The deadline for entries for the European Commission’s Lorenzo Natali Media Prize for journalistic excellence for stories that matter on ?inequality,?poverty eradication, sustainable development, environment, biodiversity, climate action, digital,?jobs and employment, education and skills development, migration, healthcare,?and?peace, democracy and human rights.?...is April 18! Details below. Winners will be awarded €10.000 in each of three categories: European Prize for journalists based in EU Member States; Best Emergent Journalist for journalists under 30; and the Grand Prize for journalists working in any of the areas covered by the Commission’s aid programmes. The Lorenzo Natali Media Prize has previously partnered with, inter alia, the UNHCR, Reporters Sans Frontieres, Deutsche Welle, Devex, and Oxford University. The Award Ceremony will be online in June 2021 following the deliberations of an experienced jury on a shortlist of stories.

Monday, April 12, 2021

Navalny’s latest bulletin from prison

I have no idea how he manages to send such messages from prison, or if they are really real. They sound like it. Over Instagram yesterday: Three things never cease to amaze me. The starry sky above us, the categorical imperative inside us and the amazing sensation of running your palm over your freshly shaved head. Greetings, everyone, from the "Enhanced Control Sector A". I have to admit that the Russian prison system managed to surprise me. I had no idea they could run a real concentration camp 100 km away from Moscow. I have not seen any violence or even a hint of it, though I can easily believe the many stories that people were beaten to within an inch of their lives with wooden hammers here in penal colony No. 2 "Pokrov". Now the methods have changed, and frankly speaking, I can’t even remember a place where everyone speaks so politely and, in a way, is friendly. That’s what I call my new home - "our friendly concentration camp".

Monday, April 12, 2021

Ιnteractive online courses on crowdfunding and collaborative journalism

Prague Media School, together with Transitions (TOL) | https://tol.org | and other media freedom organisations is launching another round of free interactive online courses on crowdfunding and collaborative journalism. The webinars are open to journalists, photo reporters, and other media professionals from Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Slovenia, Croatia, Czechia, and Greece. They will include sessions on cross-border story-pitching and collaboration in investigative reporting. This is a unique chance to get published on the Press Start crowdfunding platform and receive partial funding for your project. To apply and get a detailed curriculum with trainer biographies, please fill in the this questionnaire: https://www.pragueschool. media/crowdfunding-application. Hurry up because we’re closing the applications on April 14, 8 pm CET.