Journalists, media outlets, and media workers across Europe faced verbal abuse, physical assault, deliberate obstruction of their work, and legal action in the first half of 2026. The International Press Institute (IPI) joined partner organisations in publishing the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) monitoring briefing for January to June 2026, which documents 736 attacks on 1,174 journalists and other media professionals across the EU member states and candidate countries.
IPI is part of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), which monitors, tracks, and responds to violations of press and media freedom across EU member states and candidate countries. The mechanism provides practical and legal support, public advocacy, and monitoring to protect journalists and media workers under threat.
Based on verified cases recorded in the Mapping Media Freedom database, the briefing covers all 27 EU member states as well as candidate countries, offering one of the most comprehensive overviews of media freedom conditions in Europe. It records 363 attacks in EU member states and 373 in candidate countries.
Insults, harassment, and attempts to discredit journalists remained the most common form of violation, followed by threats and the blocking of journalistic activity. Political actors were responsible for 19% of attacks across Europe and 25% of those in EU member states. Almost a third of all incidents took place online or through digital means.
Turkey accounted for 42 of the 47 cases involving the detention, arrest, or imprisonment of journalists.
During the period, MFRR partners conducted fact-finding missions in Italy, Serbia, and France.
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The MFRR is co-funded by the European Commission and implemented by a consortium led by the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), together with the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), the International Press Institute (IPI), ARTICLE19 Europe, Free Press Unlimited (FPU), and OBC Transeuropa (OBCT). The project is co-financed by the European Commission.
This report was compiled by the ECPMF, EFJ and IPI as part of 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.
