Media

Kosovo, fake news and politics

10/04/2020 -  Arta Berisha Pristina

An unsigned and suspicious article, featured on the website of the Kosovar public broadcaster in the middle of the last election campaign, resparked the debate in Pristina on the use of false news as a tool for propaganda and political struggle

Serbia, coronavirus, and autocracy

08/04/2020 -  Antonela Riha Belgrade

The Covid-19 pandemic is likely to be used by the Serbian authorities to violate the Constitution, break laws, and even formally attempt to introduce censorship – all this by manipulating citizens' fears

Branko Čečen: let us do our job

03/04/2020 -  Branko Čečen Belgrade

A comment by the director of Serbia's Center for Investigative Journalism after the Serbian government recently introduced a measure that restricts freedom of information during a state of emergency. A ruling that the Serbian Prime Minister declared will be withdrawn

Journalism in times of COVID19: an update from Turkey

31/03/2020 -  Arzu Geybullayeva

In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, Turkey persists in detaining and arresting new journalists. Calls by human rights organisations for the release of journalists and activists are multiplying

Turkey: Rights groups call for urgent release of imprisoned journalists, human rights defenders and others, now at risk of Covid-19

31/03/2020

Together with other human rights groups and organizations, OBCT calls on the Turkish government to include journalists and human rights defenders in the release of thousands of prisoners from overcrowded prisons: the novelist Ahmet Altan and the businessman Osman Kavala are among those who would not be released as they are detained for terrorism related crimes

Media and COVID-19: the risk of restrictions on media freedom

24/03/2020

The Council of Europe and media freedom international organisations call on European States to defend independent journalistic work and not to exploit the Coronavirus crisis to further limit free access to information

Turkey, an international call to end advertising ban on Evrensel

16/03/2020

Together with other 23 international media freedom organisations, OBCT calls on the General Director of BIK to swiftly lift the advertising ban currently imposed on Evrensel, an independent newspaper now risking an economic collapse. Here the text of the call

EU funds a Rapid Response Mechanism to defend media freedom

04/03/2020

OBC Transeuropa, together with the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom and other partners, starts Rapid Response Mechanism to support independent journalism. The project is co-funded by the European Commission

Ukraine: from press freedom to censorship risks

25/02/2020 -  Claudia Bettiol Kiev

Last January the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture, Youth, and Sports presented a bill in order to change the media and disinformation law. The proposal, however, has raised criticism from the opposition, journalists, and media experts, who see their right to freedom of opinion threatened

Antonio Megalizzi, in love with Europe

19/02/2020

The Antonio Megalizzi Foundation was inaugurated in Trento on February 13th-14th. The ceremony was attended by President of the European Parliament David Sassoli, who outlined the challenges faced by the Union, the community in which Antonio strongly believed

Trento: inauguration of the Antonio Megalizzi Foundation

12/02/2020

The Antonio Megalizzi Foundation, dedicated to the young man from Trentino who died in December 2018 during a terrorist attack in Strasbourg, is being inaugurated in Trento on February 13th and 14th

Serbia: elections are approaching, pressure on the media is growing

04/02/2020 -  Dragan Janjić Belgrade

The Telekom company, of which the state is the majority owner, has removed from its cable offer N1, the only television network aimed at the general public that also presents critical positions towards the current majority

Freedom of expression groups welcome start of trial in Ján Kuciak murder

17/01/2020

The undersigned international and regional press freedom and journalism groups welcome the start of the murder trial this week against the suspected killers of Slovak journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée, Martina Kušnírová

SLAPPs: Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation

13/01/2020 -  Paola RosàClaudia Pierobon

The abuse of law as a tool to silence dissent, influence freedom of expression and capture media freedom. The 9th of a series of thematic itineraries to explore the Resource Centre on Media Freedom through a curated aggregation of contents

Croatia and Italy, the chilling effect of strategic lawsuits

29/10/2019 -  Paola RosàClaudia Pierobon

Forced to waste time, energy, and money to defend themselves against lawsuits that are unfounded in almost 90% of cases, journalists in Italy and Croatia are well aware of the SLAPP phenomenon (strategic lawsuit against public participation). Expert talks in Europe and a promising journalist's bill in Italy

Serbia: who profits from arms sales?

28/10/2019 -  Antonela Riha Belgrade

In the arms trafficking scandal recently exposed in Serbia, a state-owned company was allegedly damaged to the advantage of a private company that involved the father of the Minister of the Interior. The whistleblower ended up in jail

Albania, journalism and the shadow of censorship

01/10/2019 -  Tsai Mali

With the new season just around the corner, Albanian television schedules change, but the media landscape remains unchanged, with increasing hints of pressure and censorship cases

Balkans: the tired Media Days

25/09/2019 -  Matteo Trevisan

Three years after its first edition, the impression that emerges from the Media Days – an event promoted by the EU Commission in the Balkans – is that of a telenovela with a predictable ending, where the characters move within a well-defined perimeter. But the region's media need more

Media and rights: appeal to the Council of Europe

20/09/2019

Greater attention to the issues of press freedom and the protection of journalists: these are the requests of a letter signed by OBCT and other subjects involved in the sector, addressed to the new Secretary General of the Council of Europe Marija Pejčinović Burić

Press freedom in Turkey: the voice of OBCT at the United Nations Human Rights Council

19/09/2019

During the 42nd session in Geneva an oral statement was given to address the situation in Turkey, where civil rights and press freedom are endagered while journalists face every kind of threat

Bulgaria, radio silence

20/09/2019 -  Francesco Martino Sofia

Bulgaria confirms its structural problems in the field of press freedom. This time, the scandal is the attempted removal from the public radio (BNR) of an inconvenient journalist, followed by a mysterious obscuring of the repeaters

International media freedom mission in Turkey: press freedom in crisis

16/09/2019 -  ECPMF

For three days our partners of ECPMF joined 7 other freedom of expression organisations on a joint mission to Turkey, led by the International Press Insitute. Despite some glimmers of hope, press freedom in the country remains in crisis. Here the final statement, released on 13th September

Turkey: Erol Önderoğlu, Ahmet Nesin, and Şebnem Korur Fincancı again under trial

13/09/2019 -  Paola Rosà

Less than two months after acquittal in the first instance, two journalists and an activist find themselves accused of "terrorist propaganda": Erol Önderoğlu, Ahmet Nesin, and Şebnem Korur Fincancı will have to face the appeal trial

48 questions about Europe, data and journalism

12/09/2019

The European Data Journalism Network (EDJNet) launches a survey to understand how data can improve the way journalism reports about Europe

Croatia: journalists under attack

12/09/2019 -  Giovanni Vale Zagreb

Minatory writings on walls, physical attacks, and threats. Reporters Without Borders expresses deep concern for what it sees as a real attack against journalists in Croatia

Montenegro: Joint call on the authorities to acquit journalist sentenced to 18 months in prison

09/09/2019

OBCT and the undersigned organizations call on the Montenegrin authorities to acquit investigative journalist Jovo Martinović, convicted for marijuana smuggling and criminal association and sentenced to 18 months in prison despite overwhelming evidence that his only links with organized crime were those of a reporter

Serbia, Maja Pavlović's hunger strike

29/08/2019 -  Jelka Jovanović Belgrade

It's her third hunger strike over a year. The reason is always the same: to draw attention to the terrible state of the Serbian media, in particular her Kanal 9, one of the first private broadcasters in Serbia

Joint call on Russia to provide an enabling environment for journalists covering the Moscow protests

23/08/2019

OBCT supports a coalition of eight media freedom and journalists’ organisations that are calling on Russian authorities to immediately stop the harassment of journalists who have been covering the recent protests in Moscow. The statement

Women journalists and online harassment: the resistance in Bosnia

22/08/2019 -  Paola Rosà

A daily occurrence in Balkan newsrooms and a risk factor for press freedom according to international bodies, online harassment against women in the media is on the rise everywhere

Albania, the controversial media law

06/08/2019 -  Matteo Trevisan

Concerns persist over the approval of the new package of amendments aimed at modifying two important laws on the Albanian media, the so-called "anti-defamation package"