Yannis Kotsifos resigns as Chair of European Centre for Press and Media Freedom. A journalist and Director General of the Journalists’ Union of Macedonia and Thrace (ESIEMTH) from Thessaloniki, Greece, Kotsifos held this position since 2020. During his governance, the ECPMF team expanded to 18 staff members and regularly won open EU calls to run programmes defending media freedom. In addition, Kotsifos supported the organisational development of ECPMF and the exchange between honorary members of the board and employees.

“Yannis Kotsifos was a pillar of ECPMF, a highly esteemed expert, who contributed his knowledge and his broad professional experiences in leadership to ECPMF”, says Vice Chair Rebecca Harms.

Regarding the reasons for his resignation, Kotsifos said that there had been different opinions on the external communication and representation of ECPMF. Suggestions on the organisation’s editorial design were not taken into account on some occasions. Members of the team and the boards regret Kotsifos’ resignation.