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European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF)

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European Centre for Press and Media Freedom
AbbreviationECPMF
Formation2 June 2015
Legal statusEuropean Co-Operative (SCE)
HeadquartersLeipzig, Germany
Lucie Sýkorová (Chair of the Supervisory Board), Henrik Kaufholz (Chair of the Executive Board)
Key people
Dr. Lutz Kinkel (Managing Director)
Websitehttps://ecpmf.eu

The European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) is a non-profit organisation that promotes, protects and defends the right to a free media and freedom of expression throughout Europe.[1] It was founded in 2015 as a watchdog of the European Charter on Freedom of the Press. The main activities of the ECPMF are monitoring press and media freedom violations, advocacy and practical help for journalists, such as legal support and a "journalists-in-residence" programme.[2]

 
Logo of the ECPMF

History

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The ECPMF was founded in June 2015 as a non-profit European Cooperative Society (SCE). by representatives from 20 entities in the fields of journalism, publishing and media law in Europe.[3] Among them are the European Federation of Journalists, South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), Index on Censorship (Index), Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa (OBCT), Media Legal Defence Initiative, Association of Journalists of Macedonia, Ossigeno per l'informazione (Ossigeno), Independent Journalism Center, and Media Foundation of Sparkasse Leipzig.[4] The Centre is located in Leipzig, Saxony, Germany. The city was chosen to root the centre’s work in the tradition of the peaceful revolution of 1989, which fought for press freedom and to overthrow the GDR regime.

The main initiator of the ECPMF was Hans-Ulrich Jörges, former member of the chief editorial office of the German magazine “stern”, who had taken part in conceptualising the European Charter on Freedom of the Press. A cross-party coalition at the European Parliament spearheaded by Martin Schulz (SPD), Alexander Graf Lambsdorff (FDP), and Elmar Brok (CDU) backed the initiative to form the centre.

Structure and Finance

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The ECPMF co-operative had 39 members at the beginning of 2019. They constitute the General Meeting, which is the highest body of the organisation. According to the statute, this body is responsible for electing the members of the supervisory and executive boards. The Executive Board employs the Managing Director. Each member has one vote and must buy at least one share of the co-operative.[5] All members have to obey the Code of Conduct.[6]

The centre started within a pilot project, funded at 70% by the European Commission. The Media Foundation of Sparkasse Leipzig, the Chancellery of Saxony, the German Foreign Ministry, and City of Leipzig provided additional third-party funding for the centre. Some projects and activities like the Journalists-in-Residence programme receive funding from other donors, such as the National Endowment for Democracy, the German Foreign Office, the Open Society Foundations, and the German Ministry for Culture and Media.

The EPCMF’s budget is roughly 1 million euros per year. As the centre defines itself as a network and European hub for activities defending press and media freedom, it shares its budget with partner organisations.

Monitoring and Advocacy

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With the help of partner organisations, the ECPMF constantly monitors the status of press and media freedom in Europe and raises alarm if it detects any violation. IPI concentrates on the Visegrad countries; Ossigeno on Italy; and OBCT and SEEMO on South and Eastern Europe. Index ran the platform mappingmediafreedom.org, which collected reports of media freedom violations throughout Europe.[7] The ECPMF took over the platform in February 2019.[8]

Monitoring press and media freedom violations around Europe steers the centre's advocacy and communication activities:

  • Campaigns on digital platforms that urge European states to better protect journalists and media freedom. This includes the murder cases of Daphne Caruana Galizia[9][10] and Jan Kuciak,[11] and calling for the release of imprisoned Turkish journalists and other European journalists.[12][13][14][15]
  • Advocacy for the improvement of the legal framework for press and media freedom on a pan-European level, such as the EU whistleblower directive[16] and the goal to implement anti-SLAPP legislation.[17][18]
  • Conferences on aspects connected to media freedom such as media ownership concentration, desinformation, challenges in the digital era, and on cross-border investigative journalism in Europe.[19][20][21][22][23][24]
  • Fact-Finding Missions to explore the situation of press and media freedom of single European countries. Experts, journalists and other stakeholders are interviewed on the spot. Reports about Bulgaria, Germany, the Baltic states, France, North Macedonia, Croatia, Italy, etc., are publicly available.[25][26]
  • The Resource Centre, run by OBCT, is a database with more than 1,400 sources, articles, dossiers, and webinars linked to media freedom and professional journalism. The online database is financially supported and hosted by the ECPMF.[27]

The "Concept of the Enemy" Reports on Germany

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Since 2015, the ECPMF has been examining politically motivated attacks on journalists in Germany. The phenomenon became virulent with the rise of right-wing demonstrations and the denunciation of journalists as “Lügenpresse” (lying press). The reports investigate how such a "concept of the enemy" influences the willingness to commit violence, and document fact-checked cases of physical attacks against journalists.[28] The reports were widely shared and quoted, also in the international press.[29][30][31]

 
Comparison of participation in right-wing demonstrations and right-wing attacks on journalists 2015-2018

Practical Help for Journalists

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The conditions for journalists and professional journalism in Europe are deteriorating. To help journalists who have to work in a rather hostile environment, the ECPMF offers different programmes:

  1. The Journalists-in-Residence Programme: The ECPMF’s Journalists-in-Residence (JiR) programme is designed to shelter and support journalists whose well-being and security have been compromised due to their work. It offers temporary shelter up to six months in Leipzig, plus health insurance and a monthly stipend. Participants also get journalism-related training courses, access to legal counselling and psychological support if needed. Since the establishment of the JiR-programme in 2015, the ECPMF has received journalists from different countries, including Azerbaijan, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Turkey, Malta, and Ukraine.[32][33]
  2. Legal aid provides legal expertise, advice and/or financial support for journalists and freedom of expression activists unjustly dragged before courts. By the end of 2018, more than 30 journalists had benefited from the programme. Prominent defendants supported include the British whistleblower Christopher Wylie, the family of Daphne Caruana Galizia, as well as Oliver Schröm, chief editor of the German journalistic organisation Correctiv.[34][35]
  3. Training sessions for journalists are conducted when needed. Alongside the IJ4EU grant and its resulting "UNCOVERED" conference, the centre commissioned training courses for digital security.[36]

The IJ4EU grant for Cross-Border Investigative Journalism

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In 2016, the European Parliament initiated a grant for cross-border investigative journalism. The ECPMF was entrusted with the budget, and its partner IPI took over the management of the programme. In March 2018, the call for proposals was out and 65 applicants responded. A jury led by Wolfgang Krach, chief editor of the Süddeutsche Zeitung, selected twelve projects and distributed an overall sum of 315,000 euros. The grant was named IJ4EU (Investigative Journalism for Europe).[37][38]

The winners of the first grant in 2018 were:

  • A team led by the Baltic Center for Investigative Journalism interviewed former Russian spies in Europe (Re:Baltica)
  • The “Lost in Europe” project, led by Small Stream Media (The Netherlands), which investigates the disappearance of 10,000 migrant children
  • A team investigating child abuse and neglect in Greece and Cyprus led by the bi-national five-person journalist team, The Manifold
  • journalists Susanne Götze and Annika Joeres investigated climate change denial in the EU
  • Danwatch and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) joined forces to trace the spending of EU funds to Eastern European authorities with poor human rights records
  • RISE Project Romania and Bivol Bulgaria, which teamed up to investigate fraud, money laundering and corruption patterns used by organised crime groups in Romania and Bulgaria and the unseen links that unite them
  • The Hungarian investigative news website Átlátszó.hu investigated corruption in cancer diagnosis and treatment in Central and Eastern Europe
  • Forbidden Stories and OCCRP are currently leading the Daphne Project in Malta, which continues Daphne Caruana Galizia's investigative work after a car bomb ended her life
  • A team of six French journalists from Rue89 investigated how EU funds landed on the hands of Eurosceptic far-right political parties
  • The Invisible Border project investigated the use of biotechnologies in the border between Serbia and Hungary
  • Átlátszó (Hungary) and Átlátszó Erdély (Romania),managed a project investigating obscure Hungarian public investments in football academies in Hungary and other Central and Eastern European countries

Partner of Lie Detectors

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In 2018, the EPCMF liased with Brussels NGO Lie Detectors, which conceptualises school lessons for kids and teenagers about disinformation and fake news. Staff members were trained as lecturers, and have regularly been teaching in schools in Berlin and the Free State of Saxony since then.[39][40]

The European Charter on Freedom of the Press

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The European Charter on Freedom of the Press is regarded as the “birth certificate” of the ECPMF. The Charter was signed by 48 editors-in-chiefs and leading journalists from 19 European countries in 2009 in Hamburg. It is available in several European languages on its homepage.[41]

References

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  1. ^ European Commission (24 June 2015). "European Centre for Press and Media Freedom founded in Leipzig - #ECPMF". Retrieved 11 February 2019.
  2. ^ ECPMF. "Get Help". Retrieved 11 February 2019.
  3. ^ Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso - Transeuropa (25 June 2015). "European Centre for Press and Media Freedom founded in Leipzig". Retrieved 11 February 2019.
  4. ^ ECPMF. "Members". Retrieved 11 February 2019.
  5. ^ "Membership".
  6. ^ "ECPMF/Statute and Code of Conduct".
  7. ^ "Mapping Media Freedom". Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  8. ^ ECPMF (March 2019). "ECPMF adopts the Mapping Media Freedom project". Mapping Media Freedom. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  9. ^ "Malta mission meets PM Joseph Muscat: "the campaign of harassment against Daphne and her family continues"".
  10. ^ "Malta government only paying 'lip service' to its human rights obligations, UN hears".
  11. ^ "Slovakia: still no justice for Ján and Martina".
  12. ^ "Solidarity with Turkish journalists as jail terms stretch before them".
  13. ^ "Turkish journalists jailed for stepping up on behalf of pro-Kurdish daily newspaper".
  14. ^ "Nuevos apoyos para Jovo Martinović: Premio a la Libertad de Prensa de RSF".
  15. ^ "Joint Statement on Respect for Foreign Media Outlets' Independence in Turkey".
  16. ^ "Victory! EU directive finally protects whistleblowers".
  17. ^ "Fears for press freedom as Slovakia debates new media law".
  18. ^ "SLAPP: the background of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation".
  19. ^ "Newsocracy Prague 2018".
  20. ^ "ECPMF TO HOST NEWSOCRACY III CONFERENCE ON MEDIA OWNERSHIP CONCENTRATION".
  21. ^ "NEWSOCRACY: who owns the news – and what does it mean".
  22. ^ "Media freedom needs "political rights, courage and solidarity"".
  23. ^ "UNCOVERED - Investigative Journalism for Europe Conference".
  24. ^ "'EU must take action to stop the silencing of the press'".
  25. ^ "Fact Finding Mission".
  26. ^ "SEEMO Mission Croatia".
  27. ^ "Resource Centre".
  28. ^ "Concept of the enemy: in 2018 the ECPMF registered 26 attacks on journalists in Germany".
  29. ^ ""Feindbild Journalist"". Deutsche Welle.
  30. ^ "Zahl der Angriffe auf Journalisten steigt".
  31. ^ "Feindbild Journalist".
  32. ^ "Providing temporary shelter for European journalists at risk: ECPMF's Journalists-in-Residence Programme".
  33. ^ "Turkey: Apply for the ECPMF Journalists-in-Residence Programme".
  34. ^ "How to apply for legal support".
  35. ^ "ECPMF: Draft "Trade Secret Protection Act" in Germany threatens whistleblowers and press freedom".
  36. ^ "re:start democratic discourse – ECPMF and RPDI launch a new media literacy training project for rural Ukraine".
  37. ^ "Projects funded by the 2018 IJ4EU grants".
  38. ^ "Uncovered - Investigative Journalism for Europe".
  39. ^ "Lie Detectors".
  40. ^ "Fake news - is media literacy the answer?".
  41. ^ "European Charter on Freedom of the Press".
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