The report follows an international press freedom mission to Paris in June, which was led by the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), and joined by partner organisations of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR). The mission was also joined by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), EFJ French affiliates (SNJ, SNJ-CGT, CFDT Journalistes and FASAP-FO), and MFRR official partner OFALP.

In recent years, the MFRR consortium and RSF have documented a persistent and growing number of attacks against media professionals. Pressures on media freedom and media pluralism are unfolding against the backdrop of the 2027 presidential elections and in a highly polarised political environment.  

Political deadlock in the parliament and the approaching electoral cycle have stalled key media freedom reforms or fast-tracked them without due democratic consultation. At the same time, growing electoral support for far-right political parties, some of which have demonstrated particular hostility towards journalists, particularly those working for the public broadcaster, raises questions about the future direction of media policy and reform, as well as the protection of journalists’ rights.

The report provides an in-depth analysis of the state of media freedom in the country, following in person and online meetings with journalists, editors, legal experts, civil society organisations, the media regulator Arcom, and government officials including representatives of the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Interior, and the Ministry of Justice. It also examines the state of implementation of EU media laws and outlines key recommendations to reverse the worrying trend.  

The growing concentration in the hands of industrial billionaires, and circumvention of rules regarding internal pluralism, urgent action from the authorities is required to implement the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA). Implementation of EMFA into national law has been stalled, leaving the question of the media regulatory authority Arcom’s regulatory mandate over print and online press unresolved, with no clear timeline for reforms in sight. 

Months following the Parliamentary Commission Inquiry, France’s public service broadcasters have also faced intensified continued political pressure over their funding, governance and perceived impartiality, eroding public trust at a crucial time.

The safety of journalists covering demonstrations is also a particular concern. Journalists covering protests, unrest and politically sensitive events are at risk of violence, particularly at the hands of law enforcement officers, despite being identified as press in most cases. The report addresses the ongoing failure to implement the National Law Enforcement Scheme, the delay in imposing administrative sanctions for police misconduct and the downgrading of the National Plan on Urban Violence to an operational guide that does not recognise the special status of the press. 

Vexatious litigation, including Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs), remains one of the most common tools used to suppress the free press in the country. Although an Anti-SLAPP law was passed in 2026 and covers domestic cases, the law is widely considered to be lacking.

Another pressing issue affecting media freedom in France is the insufficient protection of journalists’ sources. The 2010 law governing source protection contains vague wording and a lack of meaningful standards, and has enabled repeated breaches of press freedom over the past 15 years, including major cases in recent years affecting investigative journalists.

Mission partners also met with journalists in exile from Tunisia, Afghanistan, Benin, Algeria, Guinea, Egypt, Yemen, Pakistan and Haiti, to understand their needs, which ranged from safety to the ability to continue working once they arrived in France. 

Download the full report

Key recommendations to French authorities include:

• Give full effect to the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), with a particular focus on source protection (Art. 4), public service media independence (Art. 5), and media concentration criteria (Art. 22);
• Adopt strong anti-monopoly and editorial independence laws for the media;
• Amend law no. 2010-1 on the Protection of Journalistic Sources with stricter and more clearly defined limitations to the conditions on the lifting of source confidentiality, including independent judicial review ;
• Amend anti-SLAPP legislation to align with Council of Europe Recommendation on countering the use of SLAPPs;
• Thoroughly investigate online and offline attacks on journalists to identify perpetrators and held them accountable;
• Enforce law enforcement officers accountability for attacks against media professionals, and implement the National Law Enforcement Scheme (SNMO) ;
• Strengthen support to exiled journalists through network building, funding, and language training 
• Take measures to address transnational repression against journalists residing in France;

The mission report was produced by the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), ARTICLE 19 Europe, the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), Free Press Unlimited (FPU), International Press Institute (IPI), and the Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa (OBCT) while RSF contributed to some sections of the report.

For press enquiry, please contact – secretariat@europeanjournalists.org 

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A Russian first-person view (FPV) drone killed Lallican on October 3, 2025, in a direct strike near the town of Druzhkivka in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk Oblast, around 15km from the front line. He was on a reporting trip with Ukrainian photojournalist George (Heorhii) Ivanchenko. Both were accompanying Ukrainian soldiers on a reporting assignment.

Lallican was killed immediately. Ivanchenko suffered serious injuries and surgeons amputated his leg soon after. One year on, the Ukrainian photojournalist is still recovering and has undergone complex surgery to fit a prosthetic leg.

At the time of the strike, both Lallican and Ivanchenko were wearing protective equipment bearing visible PRESS markings. The targeted use of a drone against a reporting team clearly identifiable as press makes this one of the most shocking examples of a deliberate Russian attack on journalists in Ukraine since the full-scale invasion began in 2022.

Intentionally directing an attack against civilians is a war crime. The killing of Lallican and serious injury of Ivanchenko must be thoroughly investigated as a suspected war crime, including the evidence that the journalists were deliberately targeted.

The killing highlights Russia’s repeated violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. It is also a tragic reminder of the growing danger facing journalists and reporting teams on the front lines as drone technology spreads. 

The rapid spread of FPV and fibre optic drones, the second of which cannot be jammed, has significantly reshaped the security risks for media working on the front lines by extending the so-called “kill zone.” 

We call on French and Ukrainian prosecutors to provide meaningful updates on the investigations, consistent with their integrity and the protection of witnesses, and to intensify efforts to identify and bring to justice those responsible. French and Ukrainian authorities should strengthen cooperation, preserve and share evidence, and pursue the responsibility of those who carried out or ordered the attack, as well as any commanders whose criminal responsibility is established. Relevant evidence should also be shared with the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, as appropriate.

MFRR partners commend the work done so far by the Temporary Investigative Commission of the Ukrainian Parliament on the Investigation of Crimes Committed by the Russian Federation Against Journalists and Media Workers, which is examining this and other killings of journalists in Ukraine.

Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, MFRR partners have documented 16 journalists killed while reporting in Ukraine on the Mapping Media Freedom database.

The MFRR will continue to document all attacks on journalists by Russian forces and partner organisations will continue to contribute to the Ukrainian Parliament’s Investigative Commission on major cases of impunity. Russia must be held accountable for the killing of Antoni Lallican and for all crimes committed against journalists since the start of its full-scale invasion.

Signed:

• International Press Institute (IPI)
• European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF)
• European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)
• Free Press Unlimited (FPU)
• ARTICLE 19 Europe
• Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso Transeuropa (OBCT)

The post Ukraine: One year after Antoni Lallican was killed in the field, MFRR partners demand justice appeared first on MFRR.

CC: The Hon. Clifton Grima
Minister for Justice, Research and Innovation

Dear Prime Minister Abela,

The undersigned international press freedom and journalists organisations write to you in response to the recent announcement that the long-awaited media reform bill will go before Parliament within the coming weeks.

Our organisations have long engaged in this reform process, including through our submission to the public consultation in 2025. We welcome the government’s stated intention to strengthen protections for journalists and implement EU-mandated reforms, including many of those set out in our proposed National Action Plan on Media Freedom and Journalist Safety.

Ahead of the bill’s tabling, we urge your government to allow sufficient time at the next stage of the legislative process for an open, transparent, and consultative review of the draft, and for legal analysis by national and international stakeholders.

Given the previous involvement of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in providing legal analyses of Maltese media laws, we urge your government to extend an invitation for review to that body, as well as relevant Council of Europe bodies, to provide expert opinions before the bill is submitted to Parliament.

We recognise the public consultations the government held, which laid the groundwork for this bill. However, that initial consultation on the reform cannot substitute for a broader consultation on the bill’s actual text.

We will contact your office separately to request a meeting on the recommendations in our October 2025 submission. We hope such an exchange will serve as an opportunity to discuss these requests as well as the wider landscape for media freedom in Malta.

Signed by:

• International Press Institute (IPI)
• Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
• Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
• European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)
• European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF)

The post Malta: Call for a proper review process and international assessment of the media reform bill appeared first on MFRR.

On 4 September, Serbian authorities denied Moratti’s request for temporary residence on grounds of “unacceptable security risks for the country”, ordering him to leave the country within 15 days and imposing an entry ban of one year. Serbian authorities did not provide any additional information regarding the grounds for the decision.

An Italian citizen, Moratti is an experienced human rights advocate who has spent more than 20 years in the region and has been living in Serbia continuously since 2022, when he moved to Belgrade following his partner’s assignment in the country.

Moratti has served as a correspondent for the OBCT media outlet in Sarajevo and later in Belgrade since 2005. From 2011 to 2018, he worked in Serbia on multiple EU projects assisting displaced persons and refugees, as well as potential asylum seekers, while later moving to London to serve as Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s European Regional Office. After relocating back to Belgrade with his family, he joined the MFRR team, playing a crucial role in shaping the consortium’s media freedom advocacy efforts in the Western Balkans.

In late January, Moratti and his family submitted a request for temporary residence to Serbian authorities. In May his partner was granted temporary residence. In June, a formal meeting was scheduled with the Serbian State Security and Information Agency, which questioned him about his current and past professional activities in the country. On 3 September, his partner received a call from the police that notified that the following day Moratti was expected at the premises of the foreign citizens’ department, where he was eventually handed the expulsion order.

With the assistance of his lawyer, Moratti filed an appeal against the Office’s decision on 10 September, and subsequently requested an interim measure from the Administrative Court to suspend the enforcement proceedings, asking the Court to take into account the forced family separation that his expulsion would entail.

While there has been no specific explanation given for the justification of this decision by Serbian authorities, there are grounds to suspect that the removal order is connected to his different roles as a human rights and media freedom advocate, for his reporting for OBCT on the social and political tensions that have been rising in Serbia over the past few years, or for his work within the MFRR consortium.

In the last few years, the MFRR and OBCT have documented the deepening slide into what we and others have called a media freedom crisis in Serbia, including escalating physical violence against journalists and the attempt by Serbian authorities to censor or silence independent journalism and critical voices. In this context, the MFRR together with the Council of Europe’s Safety of Journalists Platform conducted its last visit in the country in March 2026, an advocacy mission which was joined by Moratti on behalf of OBCT, and published the mission’s final report in July 2026. This timeline overlaps with the administrative backlash of which Moratti has been the target.

Our organisations consider his permit of stay denial and the expulsion order that was subsequently issued to be a form of administrative harassment intended to intimidate him in retaliation for his work, and for supporting journalists in the country and the broader region.

This permit rejection measure follows a worrying trend. Over the past two years, there have been multiple documented cases in which foreign civil society activists, journalists and human rights advocates in Serbia have had their residence permits refused, revoked, or were expelled and banned from re‑entry, or denied entry in the first instance, often on similarly vague “security risk” grounds. This trend has been documented in the European Commission’s 2025 Rule of Law Country chapter.

The undersigned organisations stand firm in solidarity with our colleague and urge the Serbian authorities to immediately revoke the expulsion order targeting him and to refrain from further forms of administrative harassment, allowing Moratti to live with his family and continue his work in support of media freedom.

As this is a crucial case involving a human rights advocate standing up for media freedom in the country amid a dramatic deterioration in press freedom, the undersigned MFRR partners and free expression organisations will closely monitor the proceedings.

Signed by

• Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso Transeuropa (OBCT)
• European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)
• European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF)
• Free Press Unlimited (FPU)
• ARTICLE 19 Europe
• International Press Institute (IPI)
• Index on Censorship
• Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
• Balkan Free Media Initiative (BFMI)
• International Federation of Journalists (IFJ)

The post Steadfast support for Massimo Moratti, MFRR researcher, as he is facing an expulsion order from Serbian authorities appeared first on MFRR.

Between January and June 2026, the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) documented a total of 736 attacks on 1,174 journalists and other media professionals. By covering all EU member states as well as candidate countries, the briefing offers one of the most comprehensive overviews of media freedom conditions in Europe.

Of particular concern were legislative initiatives in several European countries threatening to further restrict press freedom. Journalistic data, including information on anonymous sources, is also increasingly at risk, especially online.

The briefing was produced by the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), and the International Press Institute (IPI).

The post Monitoring Briefing 2026 appeared first on MFRR.

The Alternative for Germany (AfD), classified as far-right extremist in Saxony-Anhalt, is leading in the polls. In its 100-day programme, the party promises that its ‘first official act’ in government will be the immediate termination of the Interstate Broadcasting Agreements (Rundfunkstaatsverträge).

This promise threatens the very existence of public broadcaster Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR), which is responsible for Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony and Thuringia. While termination by a resolution of the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament is possible, state governments are constitutionally obliged to guarantee citizens access to public service media.

In addition to the MDR, the AfD Saxony-Anhalt’s party programme also targets the independent Radio Corax in Halle. The party is threatening to ‘turn off the money tap’ for the radio station should it come to power. Radio Corax actively promotes diversity and pluralism, broadcasts in numerous languages and offers a platform to minority voices.

The ECPMF has documented a growing number of attacks on journalists and media professionals in connection with AfD election events in Saxony-Anhalt on the MFRR database Mapping Media Freedom (MapMF). The German Union of Journalists (dju/ver.di) reports more than 30 attacks – 25 in the past three weeks alone – affecting over 40 media professionals.

The AfD’s plans raise fundamental questions about press freedom and the future of public service broadcasting in Saxony-Anhalt. The ECPMFs’ Feindbild-Study has, for the past ten years, observed a link between the rise of the far right and attacks on media professionals in Germany.

A look at Germany’s European neighbours highlights the growing trends of media hostility and the erosion of press freedom. Since Giorgia Meloni and her far right party, Fratelli d’Italia, came to power in September 2022, MapMF has documented an increased number of breaches of press freedom. Of particular concern are the government’s attempts to curtail the independence of the public broadcaster RAI.

During a trip abroad to Budapest in February 2025, the co-chair of the AfD, Alice Weidel, described Hungary as a “great role model”. Under Viktor Orbán, MapMF documented more than 200 attacks on press freedom in Hungary between 2020 and April 2026.

Against this backdrop, MFRR partners are observing the attacks on press freedom in connection with the election in Saxony-Anhalt with great concern. Similar measures in Hungary and Italy as proposed by AfD in their electoral programme show where such political attacks on independent media can lead. Press freedom and media diversity are indispensable cornerstones of democracy and must not be allowed to become pawns in political games.

The MFRR will continue to campaign for the protection of press freedom and to document attacks on media professionals after the election.

Signed:

• European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF)
• European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)
• Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso Transeuropa (OBCT)

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On 2 September, powerful Maltese business tycoon Yorgen Fenech was cleared by a jury of any involvement in the journalist’s 2017 car-bomb assassination, leaving the case in a state of partial impunity.

The jury in the Maltese capital Valletta reached its decision on the first day after just eight hours of deliberations, deciding by 8–1 to acquit Fenech on both charges of murder and criminal association. The prosecution has already announced its intention to appeal the verdict.

After a months-long trial and a tireless nine-year campaign for accountability for all those involved, full justice for Daphne’s murder has now been delayed further. MFRR partners express our shared shock and dismay at this significant setback in the fight for justice.

In a case that had become symbolic of the fight for press freedom and the rule of law in Malta, the verdict also represents a severe impediment to the global fight against impunity for the murder of journalists around the world.

However, the search for truth cannot end here. The criminal trial of Yorgen Fenech highlighted numerous unresolved claims concerning the possible involvement of other powerful individuals, including former officials.

This acquittal must not be treated as the end of the authorities’ responsibility to establish who planned, commissioned and enabled this assassination. Those who ultimately ordered Daphne’s murder cannot go unpunished.

Our organisations, representatives of which travelled to Malta to witness the verdict, send their full support to Daphne’s family and legal team, reaffirm their continued determination to secure accountability, and stress their backing for the pending appeal.

Daphne’s family are right: nine years after Daphne’s brutal assassination, the institutional failures that enabled her murder also remain unaddressed and unreformed.

There can be no genuine protection for press freedom while the murder of a journalist remains only partially accounted for. Although today’s verdict represents a serious setback, the fight for justice and press freedom reforms continues.

Signed:

• International Press Institute (IPI)
• European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)
• ARTICLE 19 Europe
• European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF)
• Free Press Unlimited (FPU)
• Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso Transeuropa (OBCT)

The post Malta: MFRR laments major setback after acquittal in Daphne Caruana Galizia murder trial appeared first on MFRR.

The undersigned organisations urgently reiterate our calls on Serbian authorities to put an end to the climate of impunity by prosecuting those who attack media professionals, refraining from the use of dangerous rhetoric, and publicly denouncing any attempt to silence public interest reporting.

While the Serbian authorities have responded more actively to the press freedom violations documented on the Council of Europe Platform to Protect Journalists, since the mission, these responses have not accurately reflected the scale of the issue, led to meaningful action and some have not been addressed by the relevant authorities. In light of the most recent response, which once again failed to condemn threatening remarks made by state officials, the undersigned organisations are urging the authorities to treat the alerts with the seriousness they deserve, to sanction violations of press freedom, and to ensure the protection of journalists who have been dehumanised for far too long.

Since the beginning of this year, the Mapping Media Freedom platform has recorded 31 online death threatstargeting 44 media professionals.

Prominent figures such as Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) President Veran Matić, Danas columnists and ‘Dobar Loš Zao’ podcast hosts Marko Vidojković Nenad Kulačin, journalist Dinko Gruhonjić and Radar Predrag Simonović face near-daily harassment, also involving threats against their families and children. Veran Matić, who was portrayed as an “enemy of the state” on primetime broadcast and was recently attackedin the street,  was threatened this month with online threats stating he should be “left for dead and torn apart by animals” and his head should be “cut off”. Threats against journalists Marko Vidojković and Nenad Kulačin alone account for at least six death threats recorded. Their mothers were also threatened online with sexual violence, as was Kulačin’s daughter last year. Among the nineteen family members affected, a comment addressed to the newly appointed N1 News Director Branislav Šovljanski was particularly violent, reading: “we’ll f*** your children, your family, everything you have, and we’ll do it slowly.” Threats of sexual violence were also made against the young child of Predrag Simonović, a former police inspector and columnist for Radar Weekly, who was himself regularly threatened, including with death.

The state authorities and political actors who have incited and spread hatred against these media professionals bear responsibility for the daily threats they face. Despite repeated promises to both European institutions and civil society, authorities continue to fail to prosecute the perpetrators of attacks, even in cases where the perpetrators have been identified. Several journalists have been forced into exile due to safety concerns, such as Marko Vidojković and, most recently, freelance journalist Aleksandar Radić.

Violence is not limited to well-known journalists; local journalists, who are more visible and vulnerable in their communities, face even greater risks.

The recent beating of Professor Stevan Filipović in Belgrade, in front of several witnesses, clearly shows that politically motivated physical violence is increasingly prevalent in Belgrade. The destruction of the car of the son of journalist and program director at the Independent Journalists’ Association of Vojvodina Dinko Gruhonjic was also of particular concern. Independent journalists are no longer safe in Serbia. As long as attacks remain unpunished, media professionals are at higher risk than ever of being attacked or even killed.

This pattern of impunity extends to the justice system as a whole. In 2025, only three convictions of those responsible for criminal attacks on journalists were secured by judicial authorities. The ongoing impunity in the killing of Slavko Ćuruvija, alongside the unpunished murders of Dada Vujasinovic and Milan Pantic, highlights the systemic failure of the criminal justice system, in addition to the broader erosion of the rule of law.

Amidst the escalation of violence, the undersigned organisations reiterate our call on authorities to treat cases with the seriousness they deserve. While it is welcome that Serbian authorities have become more responsive in cooperating with the CoE platform, these responses rarely signify an actual effort to address the cases flagged. No cases have yet been resolved in 2026.

Further to this,  questions remain as to whether a series of recent alerts were addressed by the relevant authorities. For instance, the official reply from the Republic of Serbia’s General Public Prosecution dated 17 August, regarding discrediting and threatening remarks made against journalists during a parliamentary debate, is deeply concerning. Instead of acknowledging and denouncing the threatening nature of the statements, especially the statement by the Minister of Culture that “something bad should happen to Gruhonjić,” referring to the journalist Dinko Gruhonjić, the response, authored by the prosecution, focused solely on the fact that ‘denigration’ is not prosecuted ex officio under the Penal Code, a legal technicality which has never been disputed. Such a response is not just disappointing; it yet again reflects the ongoing impunity on the ground and the urgent need for state officials to speak out.

Media professionals must no longer be subjected to, or be considered as legitimate targets of public persecution.

Signed by

• European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)
• Free Press Unlimited (FPU)
• Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso Transeuropa (OBCT)
• European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF)
• International Federation of Journalists (IFJ)
• Index on Censorship
• Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
• Association of European Journalists (AEJ)

The post Serbia: Spiral of violence against journalists intensifying in total impunity appeared first on MFRR.

On 18 July, Renaud Muselier, President of the Regional Council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur announced that he had filed a defamation complaint against Nice-Matin for “publishing false information” about him, without specifying the information in question. He also stated that a formal notice had been sent to the media outlets concerned, demanding that they remove it. Renaud Muselier is seeking €2 million in damages to Nice-Matin, as well as  €1 million from all media outlets that relayed the information. While expressing truth in the judicial system, Muselier further declared that “those political attacks will not go unpunished”.

After exchanging messages with Renaud Muselier, Nice-Matin discovered that the lawsuit stemmed from its reporting on an anonymous complaint that alleged an employee of Muselier’s chalet had been paid by a communications agency holding a public contract. The Marseille Public Prosecutor’s Office had opened a preliminary investigation into a potential conflict of interest, which was subsequently closed without further action.

“Reporting on matters of public interest does not constitute a political attack. We support Nice-Matin, whose reporting has upheld ethical and professional standards, including the presumption of innocence, and including invitation of Renaud Muselier to comment on all allegations against him. We call on Renaud Muselier to drop the defamation lawsuit. Public figures have a responsibility to set an example to safeguard press freedom and the right to information,” stated Ricardo Gutiérrez, EFJ General Secretary.

The EFJ observes that Renaud Muselier’s legal action bears several hallmarks of a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP). The financial amount of damages requested is excessive; there is an imbalance of power between the President of the South Region and the regional newspaper, and the lawsuit also appears to be aimed at sanctioning and suppressing a reporting of public interest.

Additionally, on 5 August, an elected official claimed responsibility for a different type of attack affecting a journalist from the regional newspaper. Ugo Massi, a farmer and member of the Rassemblement National municipal council in Cagnes-sur-Mer, threw a journalist to the ground and snatched her phone for a few seconds. The attack occurred at Ugo Massi’s father’s farm, where some greenhouses had been destroyed by a fire. While reporting with the father’s consent, the journalist had reportedly uncovered evidence of an illegal garage and abandoned luxury cars. The journalist, who sustained minor injuries to the elbow, filed a police complaint against Ugo Massi who reportedly apologised over the phone for having “laid a hand on her”. We stand in full solidarity with the journalist and are calling on the authorities to hold the elected official accountable for the attack.

Both incidents have been documented on the Mapping Media Freedom platform and reported to the Council of Europe’s Platform to promote the protection of journalism and safety of journalists.

The targeting of the regional newspaper Nice-Matin must not be viewed as an isolated incident.Preliminary findingsfrom our recent international advocacy mission with Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) partners and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) confirmed that the environment for the press in France is deteriorating. One of the main threats to press freedom in France remains vexatious litigation. While the French government initially considered a broader transposition of the EU Anti-SLAPP Directive, spending two years drafting legislation based on recommendations from the États généraux de l’information (EGI), it adopted a decree on 5 May 2026 without consulting civil society or other stakeholders. This resulted in a weak transposition.

While physical attacks by political actors remain extremely rare in France, other persistent challenges include discrediting and obstructing journalists, as well as violence during protests, mainly perpetrated by law enforcement officers. Since the beginning of the year, at least 16 media professionals have been the target of severe death threats, reigniting safety concerns for journalists. The EFJ is particularly concerned that pressure on the media will intensify in the context of the 2027 presidential race, as has been observed during previous election periods. A mission report containing key recommendations will be published.

Given the critical juncture for media freedom, it is of the utmost importance that French public officials refrain from targeting the press and condemn all forms of pressure, including that exerted by elected officials, to ensure media professionals can report freely.

The EFJ reiterates its full support for Nice-Matin.

The post France: EFJ condemns South Region President’s defamation lawsuit against Nice-Matin and physical assault of its journalist by elected official appeared first on MFRR.

We call on the Special Court against Corruption and Organized Crime to immediately postpone the entry into force of the regulation in order to initiate a proper consultation process with EFJ members (APJA, AGSH and AEJ Albania) and other relevant stakeholders from the journalistic community, and develop a transparent framework that upholds the right to information and public hearings in line with the law and EU standards.

This new internal regulation represents a clear setback for judicial transparency. Particularly alarming is the prohibition on journalists using mobile phones during court hearings. Under Article 14 paragraph 7 of the High Judicial Council Guidelines, “court hearings may be recorded and broadcast in the media” as long as it does not conflict with the rules of due legal process. This prohibition of using mobile phones in courtrooms is far from trivial, as it directly hinders real-time reporting and the necessary communication with newsrooms to ensure timely and transparent coverage of high-profile anti-corruption and organised crime trials.

In its recent comparative report, published on 28 July 2026, AGSH warned that Albania does not need new restrictions, but rather the consistent application of existing rules and reasoned decisions on each individual request. It also recommended the use of partial recording instead of complete bans, in accordance with the High Judicial Council’s guidelines. On 11 June 2026, several Albanian TV broadcasters and press sent a letter to the High Judicial Council to express their concerns about the many difficulties that journalists encounter daily with public hearings and the right to information being treated merely as exceptions to the rule.

“Any regulation with such a profound impact on the public’s right to information must be adopted through transparent dialogue. A blanket prohibition on essential reporting tools is neither necessary nor proportionate. The EFJ supports the AGSH call to ensure that any restriction on judicial proceedings is well-reasoned, based on the law, and respects the media’s right to inform the public freely, professionally, and responsibly,” stated EFJ General Secretary Ricardo Gutiérrez.

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