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.
Latest news
ECPMF warnt: Ein Austritt Mecklenburg-Vorpommerns aus dem NDR-Staatsvertrag könnte regionale Berichterstattung und Medienvielfalt erheblich schwächen.
15 Sep 2026
Behind a facade of democracy: A Georgian journalist investigating his own assault
Georgian journalist Guram Rogava describes his assault by police, his search for the attacker and the worsening state of press freedom in Georgia.
14 Sep 2026
The Only Material exhibition comes to Leipzig in October 2026
The Only Material comes to Leipzig on 22 October 2026, sharing the stories of Ukrainian journalists whose lives and ambitions have been reshaped by war.
10 Sep 2026
MFRR documented 736 attacks affecting 1,174 journalists and media professionals across Europe in the first half of 2026. Read the monitoring briefing.
7 Sep 2026
Press freedom at stake in upcoming Saxony-Anhalt elections
The far-right AfD is heading in the polls, and the party wants to cut ties with public service broadcaster MDR as its “first official act”.
4 Sep 2026
Justice delayed, justice denied for Daphne Caruana Galizia
ECPMF expresses its profound disappointment with the court’s decision to free the alleged mastermind Yorgen Fenech in the brutal assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia.
2 Sep 2026
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