European Union

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European Union high representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, shown here speaking to journalists in Brussels in 2023, told the European Parliament on April 23, 2024, that the European External Action Service was ‘appalled’ by the ‘unprecedented’ number of journalists and media workers killed in six months of the Israel-Gaza war. (Photo by John THYS / AFP)

CPJ welcomes call by EU’s Borrell on protecting journalists in Israel-Gaza war; urges further action by EU states

Brussels, April 23, 2024— The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes Tuesday’s remarks by the European Union’s Josep Borrell about the need to protect journalists in the Israel-Gaza war and calls on all EU member states also to make or renew calls that both sides should respect international law during the conflict, take all measures to…

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The Berlaymont building, headquarters of the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium, in 2022.

CPJ joins call for EU to prioritize rule of law

CPJ joined 38 other civil society organizations on Wednesday in calling on the European Commission to strengthen its fifth annual rule of law report, which assesses media freedom in European Union member states. With Europe due to vote from June 6 to 9, the 39 groups also called on the new European Commission to prioritize…

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Flags flutter outside of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, on June 12, 2023.

EU under pressure to defend journalists against abusive lawsuits

Brussels, October 11, 2023—As the European Union negotiates a landmark law to prevent the powerful and wealthy using malicious litigation to silence the media, the Committee to Protect Journalists on Wednesday called on the bloc to ensure that proposed legislation is robust and ambitious enough to protect the press. On Monday, the European Parliament and…

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Press freedom groups find Greek authorities failed to investigate journalist murders

Impunity in the cases of Sokratis Giolias and Giorgios Karaivaz underscores decline in media freedom in Greece Athens, September 29, 2023—A pattern of inaction and inadequate investigation from Greek authorities in the 2010 murder of Greek journalist Sokratis Giolias was revealed in an investigation published today by press freedom groups Free Press Unlimited, the Committee…

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The word spyware and binary code are displayed in this illustration on May 4, 2022.

Journalists call on European Parliament to ban spyware

Some 500 journalists have called on members of the European Parliament since September 14 to introduce an absolute ban on surveillance of the press through spyware in the upcoming European Media Freedom Act. Spyware, which secretly takes over electronic devices without being detected, puts journalists around the world at risk of increased harassment and violence and…

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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen delivers the State of the European Union address to the European Parliament, in Strasbourg, France, on September 13, 2023.

CPJ joins call for EU to safeguard against undue state influence on media

The Committee to Protect Journalists and 14 other civil society groups on Thursday urged the European Parliament to protect the press against undue state influence by ensuring that member countries provide advertising revenue to national media in a fair and transparent way. The call comes as the European Parliament is concluding its internal negotiations over…

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Icons for the encrypted apps WhatsApp and Messenger are seen on an iPhone in Britain on March 27, 2017.

CPJ joins statement urging EU states to reject mass surveillance proposal

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined more than 80 other digital and human rights groups in a joint statement on Wednesday, September 13, 2023, urging European Union countries to reject the bloc’s draft Child Sexual Abuse Regulation as it could violate hundreds of millions of people’s privacy rights. The proposal could force companies to scan…

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In Georgia, poetry, a prison visit, and a pardon for Nika Gvaramia

On the road to Rustavi Prison #12, where the only journalist jailed in Georgia is still serving out his 3.5-year sentence, Sofia Liluashvili is speaking to me about poetry. Liluashvili is the wife of Georgian journalist Nika Gvaramia, who spent more than a year behind bars before a pardon by President Salome Zurabishvili led to…

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EU progress on press freedom mired in contradictions, CPJ report finds

European Union media reforms hang in the balance ahead of critical 2024 elections New York, April 25—The European Union (EU) is inconsistent in delivering on its own commitments to press freedom, according to a special report published Tuesday by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). “Fragile Progress: The struggle for press freedom in the European Union”finds…

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CPJ, partners send recommendations to European Commission ahead of rule of law report

CPJ on Wednesday, February 22, joined 33 partner organizations in a statement to the European Commission about its rule of law report, which assesses on an annual basis the media freedom environment in the member states of the EU. The statement makes concrete recommendations in advance of this year’s report, which will be published in…

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