The Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) is organising a summit between March 22-24 focused on boosting media freedom, strengthening independent media and the ensuring the safety of journalists in Europe.

The MFRR Summit 2022 will open with a video message by Věra Jourová, Vice President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency, followed by a keynote address by Roberto Saviano, an Italian journalist and writer.

Day one of the summit will examine journalists’ safety at protests. After an introductory case study, the first panel will be chaired by Renate Schroeder and hear from Monique Hofmann, Tony Rigopoulos and Peter Smets.

The second panel on March 22 focuses on threats to journalists’ safety online, with a panel chaired by MFRR Coordinator Gürkan Özturan, with Guilherme Canela De Souza Godoi and Flora Schulte Nordholt. The final event on the first day is a workshop on modelling and tools for digital defence.

Day two of the summit will open with a keynote from Matthew Caruana Galizia, investigative journalist and director of the Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation.

The first panel on March 23 will look at efforts to push back against SLAPPs. It will feature Sarah Clarke, Head of Europe and Central Asia at ARTICLE 19, Flutura Kusari, Senior Legal Adviser at ECPMF, Miquel Roig and Angel Villarino, Deputy Editor and Deputy Director at El Confidencial and Giulia Lucchese from the Council of Europe.

The second panel explores challenges to freedom of information. It will feature Neus Vidal, Monitoring Officer at the European Centre for Press Freedom, Helen Darbishire, Executive Director at AccessInfo Europe (UK), Miguel Ángel Gavilanes, Journalist at Civio (Spain) and Besar Likmeta, Editor-in-chief at Reporter.al (BIRN, Albania).

The workshop on the second day will focus on PRESS Protect and the MFRR support package. It features Guusje Somer, FPU (Chair), Tabea Caspary, Legal Assistant at ECPMF, Tomas A. Chang Pico, Senior Programme Officer at FPU, Alina Toropova, Journalists-in-Residence Programme Manager at ECPMF and Katrin Schatz, Project Manager Practical Support at ECPMF.

The third day focuses on pluralistic media for a democratic society. It will open with a keynote from Veronika Munk, Editor-in-Chief of Telex, who will talk about leading a successful independent media outlet in the most captured environment in Europe and how that is impacting the election campaign and prospects of free and fair elections.

The first panel on March 24 will examine the competing models of media capture in Europe. During this session, we will hear from contributors to two reports from the IPI on media capture in Czech Republic, and Bulgaria and prospects for reform following changes in government.

The second panel explores how we can support local media in the EU. It features Lucie Sykorova, Executive Board, ECPMF (Chair), Francesca Rita, Researcher at Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa (OBCT), Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, Director of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism and Anja Pasquay, Spokeswoman of German Association of Newspaper and Digital Publishers (BDZV).

The final workshop will give an overview of the new #MapMF Alert Explorer, a monitoring tool of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR). It will hear from Antje Schlaf, Mapping Media Freedom Consultant at ECPMF and Neus Vidal, a Monitoring Officer at ECPMF.

Click here for more information and links for registration.

 

This event is being coordinated by the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), a Europe-wide mechanism which tracks, monitors and responds to violations of press and media freedom in EU Member States and Candidate Countries.