European Centre for Press and Media Freedom

Description

The European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) is a non-profit organisation founded in Leipzig, Germany, in 2015. It operates on the basis of the European Charter on Freedom of the Press and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. It is structured as a European Co-operative (SCE) with 39 members, drawn from academics, trade unions, investigative journalism organisations, media industry leaders, and campaigning and aid organisations across Europe.

Its mission is to promote, preserve and defend media freedom by monitoring violations, providing practical support and engaging diverse stakeholders across Europe. Its vision is a society where media freedom enables open discourse and everyone can seek, receive and impart information. ECPMF monitors media freedom violations, including through Mapping Media Freedom. It publishes annual monitoring reports and undertakes fact-finding missions.

It provides practical and legal support to journalists under threat, including a Journalists-in-Residence programme and a Journalists-in-Exile Programme. Through the SAFE project it offers emergency, psychological and media capacity support to journalists and independent media in countries such as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. It also awards investigative journalism grants, offers training and workshops, and runs advocacy and campaigning work, including against strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) through a European Anti-SLAPP Monitor.

The Centre was originally initiated after the European Charter on Freedom of the Press was signed by 48 editors-in-chief and leading journalists in 2009. Today it is embedded in a pan-European network of freedom of expression organisations, together undertaking projects such as the Media Freedom Rapid Response mechanism and the IJ4EU grant. The European Commission is its main funder, alongside the Free State of Saxony, the City of Leipzig and the Media Foundation of the Sparkasse Leipzig. ECPMF is based in Leipzig, Germany.