European Center for Press and Media Freedom

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European Center for Press and Media Freedom
(ECPMF)
logo
legal form European cooperative
founding June 24, 2015
Seat Leipzig
Managing directors Lutz Kinkel
Members 39 (2019)
Website ecpmf.eu

The European Center for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) is a non-profit organization that promotes, maintains and defends the right to freedom of the press and freedom of expression across Europe. The main activities of the ECPMF include recording violations of freedom of the press and the media, public relations work and practical help for journalists, for example through legal assistance and the journalists-in-residence program.

history

The ECPMF was founded in June 2015 by 20 representatives from organizations from journalism, publishing and media law as a non-profit European cooperative (SCE). These include the European Journalists' Federation , South East Europe Media Organization (SEEMO), Index on Censorship (Index), Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa (OBCT), Media Legal Defense Initiative, Association of Journalists of Macedonia, Ossigeno per l'informazione (Ossigeno), Independent Journalism Center, and the Media Foundation of Sparkasse Leipzig . The purpose of the ECPMF is to enforce the European Charter of Freedom of the Press . The center is located in Leipzig ( Saxony ). The city was found to be a suitable location because it was the place where the peaceful revolution started in 1989 , which brought down the repressive regime of the GDR .

The main initiator of the ECPMF was Hans-Ulrich Jörges , a former member of the editor-in-chief of stern . Jörges was involved in the conception of the European press freedom charter . The initiative was supported by a cross-party alliance in the European Parliament, led by Martin Schulz ( SPD ), Alexander Graf Lambsdorff ( FDP ) and Elmar Brok ( CDU ).

Structure and finances

The ECPMF cooperative consists of 39 members (as of early 2019). They belong to the General Assembly, which is also the highest organ of the organization. According to the statutes, the general assembly is responsible for the election of the board members. The board appoints the managing director. Each member has one vote and must buy at least one of the € 100 shares in the cooperative. All members must adhere to the code of conduct.

The center started as a pilot project, 70% funded by the European Commission . The third-party funding and additional funding are provided by the Sparkasse Leipzig Media Foundation , the Saxon State Chancellery , the Foreign Office and the City of Leipzig.

Some projects, such as the Journalists-in-Residence program, are funded by other donors. These include the National Endowment for Democracy , the Federal Foreign Office , the Open Society Foundations and the Minister of State for Culture and Media.

The budget of the ECPMF is around 1 million euros per year. Since the center sees itself as a network and hub for the defense of press and media freedom, it shares the budget with its partner organizations. In 2018, these included IPI, SEEMO, OBCT, Ossigeno and Index.

Observation and advocacy

Together with its partner organizations, the ECPMF constantly records the state of press and media freedom in Europe and raises the alarm if violations are found. IPI focuses on the Visegrad countries , Ossigeno on Italy and OBCT and SEEMO on Southeast Europe. Since February 2019 the ECPMF has been operating the mappingmediafreedom.org platform, where reports on violations of media freedom in Europe are collected. The site was previously operated by Index.

The observation of violations of the freedom of the press and the media controls the activities in the area of ​​public relations and communication:

  • Campaigns on digital platforms that call on European countries to better protect journalists and media freedom. These include campaigns on the murders of Daphne Caruana Galizia and Jan Kuciak, as well as calls for the release of imprisoned Turkish and other European journalists.
  • Lobbying for the improvement of the legal framework for freedom of the press and media throughout Europe. These include the EU Whistleblower Directive and the goal of developing anti-SLAPP legislation.
  • Conferences on topics relevant to media freedom. The annual Newsocracy conference focuses on ownership in the media. Other conferences focused on disinformation (“Truth in a post truth era”, Leipzig 2017), digital challenges (“Game Changer”, Leipzig 2018) or cross-border investigative journalism in Europe (“UNCOVERED”, Berlin 2019).
  • Fact-finding missions examine the state of freedom of the press and the media in individual European countries. Experts, journalists and other stakeholders will be interviewed on site. So far reports on Bulgaria , Germany , the Baltic States , France , North Macedonia , Croatia and Italy are publicly available.
  • The Resource Center , operated by OBCT, is a database of over 1,400 sources, articles, dossiers and webinars on media freedom and professional journalism. The online database is financially supported by the ECPMF.

The "enemy image" reports

Comparison of participants in right-wing marches and right-wing attacks on journalists

The ECPMF has been researching politically motivated attacks on journalists in Germany since 2015. The phenomenon became virulent with the rise of right-wing demonstrations and the branding of journalists as the “ lying press ”. The reports examine how this “enemy image” influences the willingness to engage in physical violence and document cases of physical violence against journalists.

Practical help for journalists

Working conditions for journalists and professional journalism in Europe have deteriorated in recent years. In order to help journalists with their work under sometimes difficult conditions, the ECPMF offers different programs:

  1. The Journalists-in-Residence Program: The ECPMF's Journalists-in-Residence (JiR) program aims to accommodate and support journalists whose safety and integrity have been compromised due to their work. Those affected receive accommodation in Leipzig for up to six months, they are also insured and receive a monthly allowance. The participants also have the opportunity to take part in journalism courses, and there is also the possibility of psychological support. Since the JiR program was launched in 2015, the ECPMF has assisted journalists and a. from Azerbaijan, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Malta, Turkey and Ukraine.
  2. "Legal Aid" offers legal expertise and / or financial help for journalists and activists who advocate freedom of expression and who are being unlawfully challenged. More than 30 journalists had taken advantage of the program by the end of 2018. Supported defendants include British whistleblower Christopher Wylie, Daphne Caruana Galizia's family , and Oliver Schröm , editor-in-chief of the Correctiv research network .
  3. Training events for journalists take place if necessary. In addition to the IJ4EU grant and the associated UNCOVERED conference, the center commissioned training courses for digital security. Together with the Ukrainian non-governmental organization RPDI, the re: start program carried out a series of workshops in rural regions of Ukraine with the help of the ECPMF .

The IJ4EU grant for cross-border investigative journalism

In 2016, the European Parliament launched a grant for cross-border investigative journalism. The ECPMF was entrusted with the budget, while the partner IPI took over the management of the program. The call started in March 2018, and 65 applicants followed the call. Under the direction of Wolfgang Krach , editor-in-chief of the Süddeutsche Zeitung , the jury selected twelve projects and distributed a total of € 315,000. The program was named IJ4EU (Investigative Journalism for Europe).

The winners of the first grant in 2018 were:

  • a team led by the Baltic Center for Investigative Journalism (Re: Baltica) interviewing former Russian spies;
  • the “Lost in Europe” project, led by Small Stream Media ( Netherlands ), which is investigating the disappearance of 10,000 migrant children;
  • a research team led by The Manifold , a team of five bi-national journalists , researching child abuse and neglect in Greece and Cyprus ;
  • the journalists Susanne Götze and Annika Joeres , who researched the network of climate change deniers ;
  • VSquare and Fundacija Reporterów;
  • Danwatch and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) investigated the whereabouts of EU funds in Eastern European countries with poor human rights situations;
  • RISE Project Romania and Bivol Bulgaria: The two teams researched fraud, money laundering, corruption and the structural connections of organized criminal gangs in Romania and Bulgaria ;
  • the Hungarian investigative news site Átlátszó.hu for researching corruption related to cancer diagnosis and cancer treatment in Central and Eastern Europe;
  • Forbidden Stories and OCCRP: you lead the Daphne Project in Malta, which Daphne Caruana Galizia's investigative work continues after her death by a car bomb;
  • a six-strong French team of journalists from Rue89 investigating the misappropriation of EU funds by right-wing extremist Eurosceptics;
  • the Invisibile Border Project for their research into the use of biotechnologies on the Serbian-Hungarian border;
  • Àtlátszó ( Hungary ) and Àtlátszó Erdély ( Romania ) for a project exploring Hungarian public investment.

Lie Detectors

In 2018, the ECPMF entered into a partnership with the Brussels-based non-governmental organization Lie Detectors , which designs teaching units on disinformation and fake news for children and young people. Workshops were held in more than 400 school classes in Belgium, Austria and Germany. In Germany, three employees have been trained as lecturers and teach regularly at schools in Berlin and Saxony.

The European Charter of Press Freedom

The European Charter of Freedom of the Press is considered to be the "birth certificate" of the ECPMF. The charter was signed in Hamburg in 2009 by 48 editors-in-chief and leading journalists from 19 European countries . The charter is available in various languages ​​on their homepage.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ European Center for Press and Media Freedom founded. (No longer available online.) Leipziger Medienstiftung, June 24, 2015, archived from the original on February 3, 2016 ; accessed on February 2, 2016 .
  2. ^ Anonymous: European Center for Press and Media Freedom founded in Leipzig - #ECPMF. June 24, 2015, accessed April 18, 2019 .
  3. ^ European Center for Press and Media Freedom: Get Help. Retrieved April 18, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso: European Center for Press and Media Freedom founded in Leipzig. Retrieved April 18, 2019 (Italian).
  5. ^ European Center for Press and Media Freedom: Members. Retrieved April 18, 2019 .
  6. ↑ European Center for Press and Media Freedom: Statute and Code of Conduct. Retrieved April 18, 2019 .
  7. ^ ECPMF adopts the Mapping Media Freedom project. In: Mapping Media Freedom. April 3, 2019, Retrieved April 18, 2019 (American English).
  8. ↑ European Center for Press and Media Freedom: Malta mission meets PM Joseph Muscat: the campaign of harassment against Daphne and her family continues. Retrieved April 18, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Malta government only paying 'lip service' to its human rights obligations, UN hears. In: The Shift News. March 15, 2019, Retrieved April 18, 2019 (American English).
  10. ^ European Center for Press and Media Freedom: Slovakia: still no justice for Jan and Martina. Retrieved April 18, 2019 .
  11. ↑ European Center for Press and Media Freedom: Solidarity with Turkish journalists as jail terms stretch before them. Retrieved April 18, 2019 .
  12. ^ European Center for Press and Media Freedom: Turkish journalists jailed for stepping up on behalf of pro-Kurdish daily newspaper. Retrieved April 18, 2019 .
  13. ↑ editor: Nuevos apoyos para Jovo Martinović: Premio a la Libertad de Prensa de RSF. March 21, 2019, accessed April 18, 2019 (Spanish).
  14. ^ Joint Statement on Respect for Foreign Media Outlets' Independence in Turkey. In: PEN America. March 12, 2019, accessed April 18, 2019 .
  15. ↑ European Center for Press and Media Freedom: Victory! EU directive finally protects whistleblowers. Retrieved April 18, 2019 .
  16. ^ European Center for Press and Media Freedom: SLAPP: the background of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation. Retrieved April 18, 2019 .
  17. ^ European Center for Press and Media Freedom: Newsocracy-Prague. Retrieved April 18, 2019 .
  18. ↑ ECPMF TO HOST NEWSOCRACY III CONFERENCE ON MEDIA OWNERSHIP CONCENTRATION - [BETA] Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD). Retrieved April 18, 2019 (UK English).
  19. ↑ NEWSOCRACY: who owns the news - and what does it mean. In: SEENPM. November 30, 2018, Retrieved April 18, 2019 (American English).
  20. ↑ European Center for Press and Media Freedom: ECPMF17 | Defending Journalists under Threat. Retrieved April 18, 2019 .
  21. ↑ European Center for Press and Media Freedom: GAME CHANGER #digitalmediafreedom Leipzig. Retrieved April 18, 2019 .
  22. ^ European Center for Press and Media Freedom: UNCOVERED - Investigative Journalism for Europe Conference. Retrieved April 18, 2019 .
  23. ↑ 'EU must take action to stop the silencing of the press'. In: The Shift News. February 4, 2019, Retrieved April 18, 2019 (American English).
  24. ^ European Center for Press and Media Freedom: Fact Finding Missions. Retrieved April 18, 2019 .
  25. ↑ Seemo. Retrieved April 18, 2019 .
  26. ^ European Center for Press and Media Freedom: Resource Center. Retrieved April 18, 2019 .
  27. ^ European Center for Press and Media Freedom: Journalists in Residence. Retrieved April 18, 2019 .
  28. ↑ https://europeanjournalists.org/wp-content/themes/efj/humans.txt : Turkey: Apply for the ECPMF Journalists-in-Residence Program. August 24, 2018. Retrieved April 18, 2019 (American English).
  29. ^ European Center for Press and Media Freedom: Legal Support. Retrieved April 18, 2019 .
  30. ^ European Center for Press and Media Freedom: ECPMF: Draft. Retrieved April 18, 2019 .
  31. ^ European Center for Press and Media Freedom: re: start democratic discourse. Retrieved April 18, 2019 .
  32. ↑ Investigative Journalism for the EU | Funding Cross-Border Investigative Reporting in Europe. Retrieved April 18, 2019 (American English).
  33. ↑ Silke Fokken: Workshops against disinformation "In every class at least one child falls for fake news" . In: Der Spiegel , October 15, 2019, accessed on October 16, 2019
  34. ^ Lie Detectors. Retrieved April 18, 2019 .
  35. ↑ European Center for Press and Media Freedom: Fake news - is media literacy the answer? Retrieved April 18, 2019 .
  36. ^ European Charter on Freedom of the Press. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on January 19, 2016 ; accessed on April 18, 2019 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.pressfreedom.eu