The International Press Institute (IPI) joins partners of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) in publishing a new report documenting media freedom violations across Europe in the first half of 2025.
Between January and June 2025, the MFRR partners documented 709 press freedom violations against 1249 media workers in 36 European countries.
The diverse nature of attacks reflects an increasingly hostile environment for journalists and media freedom, ranging from physical assaults, verbal attacks such as death threats and smear campaigns, arrests, lawsuits, and laws restricting press freedom.
For EU Member States, a total of 342 press freedom violations affected 584 media related persons or entities. The report offers a specific analysis of the media freedom picture in two EU countries: Hungary and Romania.
For EU candidate countries, a total of 367 press freedom violations affected 665 media related persons or entities. The report specifically analyses the situation in the following EU candidate countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Turkey, and Ukraine.
The data for this report was compiled by the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), and the International Press Institute (IPI), as part of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) project, which tracks, monitors and reacts to violations of press and media freedom in EU Member States and candidate countries. This project provides legal and practical support, public advocacy and information to protect journalists and media workers.
The alerts for this report can be accessed through the Alert Explorer database, which is the largest public database monitoring media freedom in Europe. The database is continuously updated with alerts on press freedom violations documented by the MFRR partner organisations.
Download the full report here. Past reports can be accessed on the Mapping Media Freedom website.
On Thursday September 18 at 13.00 CET, the MFRR is hosting a webinar to take a deep dive into the report and its findings. More information below
MFRR: Assessing media freedom threats in Europe in first half of 2025
The report was 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.
