News

December 06, 2025 - Syria -  The Syrian Ministry of Information held a solemn ceremony on December 6, 2025, at the National Center for Visual Arts in Damascus to honor journalists who were killed during last year’s 2024 “Deterrence of Aggression” battle. The event was attended by Information Minister Hamza al‑Mustafa and Communications Minister Abdulsalam Haykal, who paid tribute to the fallen reporters — describing them as individuals who “carried cameras and pens like burning embers,” and whose work helped preserve a crucial record of the conflict. Minister al-Mustafa characterized the 2024 battle as a...

December 06, 2025 - Sudan -  With Sudan’s war pushing the country into a near-total media blackout, a new journalism fellowship has been launched to strengthen human-rights reporting and restore reliable information flows at a critical moment. The initiative, announced by Sudan Tribune, seeks to counter the collapse of independent media by equipping journalists inside and outside the country with resources, training, and a platform to document abuses that might otherwise go unreported. The program — part of a wider cross-border accountability network — will run from December 2025 to February 2026. Eight journalists will...

December 06, 2025 - USA -  A rising confrontation between the White House and the American press has triggered serious alarm among press-freedom advocates, who warn that recent actions signal a troubling erosion of democratic norms. According to new reporting, the administration’s public attacks on journalists — paired with growing restrictions on access — are reshaping the environment in which U.S. reporters operate, with consequences that extend far beyond political rhetoric. The latest concerns follow a series of incidents in which senior White House officials and the president himself publicly targeted specific journalists by name,...

December 05, 2025 - General -  In a powerful move to honour the legacy of her late husband, British climate journalist Dom Phillips, his widow Alessandra Sampaio is working to empower a new generation of Indigenous and environmental journalists to continue reporting from the world’s largest rainforest — helping turn tragedy into resistance and hope. Phillips and Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira were murdered in Brazil’s Amazon jungle in June 2022 while investigating illegal environmental destruction. Their deaths sparked global outrage and left a vacuum in critical reporting from remote regions long threatened by deforestation, illegal...

December 05, 2025 - Belarus -  Belarusian authorities have further tightened their hold on independent media by sentencing journalist Ihor Illiash to “extremist” status — a decision that will prevent him from working or engaging in public discourse and raises grave concerns among press-freedom advocates. The verdict follows an interview Illiash gave to a Ukrainian media outlet, during which he expressed views the Belarusian government deemed unacceptable. Under the regime’s expanding definitions of “extremism,” even journalistic interviews can now be filed under criminal-style allegations. As a result, Illiash will face severe restrictions on mobility, publication,...

December 05, 2025 - Myanmar -  Myanmar’s military authorities have released two prominent journalists as part of a broad political amnesty, a rare moment of relief amid an environment that remains one of the world’s most repressive for independent media. The pardons, announced just weeks before the country’s planned general election, have sparked cautious optimism among press-freedom advocates — tempered by warnings that the move does little to alter the junta’s longstanding hostility toward critical reporting. According to local media, veteran columnist Sithu Aung Myint and former BBC Media Action producer Htet Htet Khine were...

December 05, 2025 - Turkey -  Turkish authorities have arrested YouTube journalist Hasan Köksoy along with a man who recited a poem during one of his street interviews, intensifying concerns about the country’s shrinking space for free expression. The arrests were ordered after prosecutors claimed the poem — critical of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan — constituted both an “insult to the president” and “incitement to hatred,” charges frequently used against government critics. Köksoy, known online as “Self-Reporter,” regularly films spontaneous interviews in public spaces, offering everyday citizens a platform to voice their opinions on politics,...

December 04, 2025 - General - A coalition of U.S. lawmakers and leading human rights and press-freedom organizations is preparing to deliver one of the strongest public condemnations yet of Israel’s treatment of journalists in Gaza. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Amnesty International USA, and members of Congress will gather in Washington to address what they describe as a systematic and escalating pattern of attacks on media workers since the start of the war. The press conference, scheduled for December 5, reflects a deepening concern within the international community over the unprecedented toll on...

December 04, 2025 - France/Algeria -  Tensions between France and Algeria deepened this week after an Algerian appeals court upheld the seven-year prison sentence handed to French journalist Christophe Gleizes, prompting strong diplomatic criticism and renewed alarm from press-freedom organizations. Gleizes, a freelance reporter and sports writer known for his work with the French magazines So Foot and Society, was arrested in May 2024 while traveling in the Kabylia region. He had reportedly entered Algeria on a tourist visa to work on a story involving a major local football club, Jeunesse Sportive de Kabylie (JSK)....

December 04, 2025 - Russia -  A Moscow court has rejected the appeal of four journalists convicted earlier this year for alleged ties to the anti-corruption group founded by opposition figure Alexei Navalny — a move that intensifies concerns over media suppression in Russia. The journalists — Antonina Favorskaya, Konstantin Gabov, Sergey Karelin, and Artyom Kriger — were convicted in April 2025 of “extremism” for allegedly cooperating with Navalny’s banned anti-corruption foundation, a group outlawed by Russian authorities in 2021. Each received a 5½-year sentence in a closed-door trial. Their appeal, which challenged both the...

December 04, 2025 - USA - The New York Times has filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Defense, challenging sweeping new media rules that journalists say threaten the core of press freedom and undermine the public’s right to scrutinize military power. The complaint, submitted in the District Court for Washington, D.C., argues that the Pentagon’s revised credentialing policy violates both the First and Fifth Amendments by imposing vague, restrictive conditions on reporters seeking access to the building. The dispute centers on a policy introduced in October 2025 requiring journalists to pledge they...

December 04, 2025 - China -  Veteran Chinese photojournalist and filmmaker Du Bin — long known for documenting human-rights abuses — was detained on October 15, 2025, marking his third arrest in 12 years. He remains held at the Shunyi Detention Center in Beijing, accused of the broadly defined crime of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” Du, 53, had planned to travel abroad when police reportedly came to his home a day before his flight. Since then, his family has not been given access to official detention papers, and authorities have refused to explain the...

December 04, 2025 - Vietnam -  Vietnam is facing renewed criticism from global press-freedom groups after journalist Do Van Nga was detained on arrival in Ho Chi Minh City and later charged with disseminating “anti-state propaganda,” a sweeping accusation widely used to silence independent reporting. His arrest marks yet another escalation in Hanoi’s longstanding campaign against dissident journalists, bloggers, and digital media workers. Nga, who had been living abroad for several years, disappeared shortly after landing at Tan Son Nhat International Airport on 8 November 2025. Family members and colleagues raised alarms when he failed...

December 04, 2025 - Ukraine/Russia -  As international discussions around a future peace plan for Ukraine accelerate, leading press-freedom organizations are warning that any agreement reached will be incomplete — and morally compromised — unless it includes concrete guarantees for journalist safety and accountability for crimes committed against the press throughout the war. The International Press Institute (IPI) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) released strong statements urging negotiators not to sideline media rights in the pursuit of political compromise. According to both organizations, Ukraine has endured hundreds of documented violations against journalists since...

December 03, 2025 - Palestine - Palestinian photojournalist working to document life and suffering in Gaza was killed in an Israeli drone strike in Khan Younis. The strike took place in a zone that, under the terms of a ceasefire brokered in October, was supposed to be outside active combat areas. The fatal attack was swiftly condemned by the Gaza Government Media Office (GMO), which announced that Wadi’s death raised the documented number of journalists killed in Gaza to 257 since the war began. According to the GMO, the casualty count reflects what amounts to...

December 03, 2025 - Colombia -  An assassination attempt on veteran Colombian journalist Edmundo “Pepo” Cruz has reignited fears about threats against the press — while also triggering defiance and calls for protection among media and human-rights groups. Cruz, a respected labour-rights reporter and outspoken critic of corruption, was shot at point-blank range outside his home in Bogota on the evening of December 2, 2025. The bullet narrowly missed vital arteries, but left him wounded. He was quickly hospitalised and underwent emergency surgery. Details remain incomplete, as neither police nor prosecutors have named a suspect,...

December 03, 2025 - Greece -  A disturbing new video has emerged showing two journalists from Mali’s state broadcaster ORTM — director Daouda Koné and cameraman Salif Sangaré — pleading for rescue after being abducted by the jihadist group JNIM. The pair were kidnapped on 14 October while travelling between Sévaré and Konna, in Mali’s volatile central Mopti region — an area beset by jihadist violence and chaos. Over six weeks later, snippets of a hostage video surfaced showing them dressed in traditional boubous, sitting in front of a draped backdrop. Their tone is somber...

December 02, 2025 - Pakistan -  Journalist Sohrab Barkat — an Islamabad-based correspondent for the online outlet Siasat and host of a YouTube news channel — was detained at Islamabad International Airport on November 26, 2025, while en route to a United Nations conference. The arrest stems from a case filed by the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA), which accuses him of publishing an interview containing “derogatory remarks” about state institutions. The source of the alleged insult was not Barkat himself, but a guest on his show — a member of the main opposition...

December 02, 2025 - Colombia - Colombia is facing mounting scrutiny as two parallel crises expose the country’s fragile security landscape: the killing of child rebel recruits during recent military operations and escalating threats against journalists investigating armed groups. The controversy began after airstrikes ordered by the government of President Gustavo Petro resulted in the deaths of several minors forcibly recruited by dissident rebel factions. In early November, a bombing in Guaviare killed at least seven underage recruits, followed days later by the death of another teenager in a separate operation in Arauca. Human rights...

December 02, 2025 - Sudan - The killing of Sudanese journalist Taj al-Sir Ahmed Suleiman has sent shockwaves through Sudan’s media community, marking one of the most chilling attacks on press freedom since the war began. Suleiman, the El-Fasher bureau chief for the state-run Sudan News Agency (SUNA), was executed alongside his brother after Rapid Support Forces (RSF) fighters stormed their family home in late October, following the militia’s takeover of the besieged city. For months, El-Fasher had been encircled by RSF forces, its residents trapped under an intensifying campaign of violence. When the city...

December 02, 2025 - Palestine/France -  Journalist unions in France have filed a formal complaint against Israel’s authorities, alleging systematic obstruction of press activity in Gaza and the West Bank — a move underscoring mounting global concern about press freedom in the conflict. On November 26, 2025, the National Union of Journalists (SNJ) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) submitted a complaint to France’s national anti-terror prosecutor’s office (PNAT), accusing Israeli authorities of orchestrating “an organised, systematic and prolonged” campaign to prevent foreign media — including French reporters — from entering Gaza freely. According...

December 09, 2025 - Palestine -  Journalism in the Occupied Palestinian Territory has taken on dual — and deadly — roles in the ongoing war, according to United Nations officials and media observers who highlighted the perilous conditions facing reporters from Gaza, the West Bank, and beyond. At a major forum on media and the Middle East held at U.N. headquarters in New York, speakers underscored that reporting from the territory is “both a battleground and a lifeline,” capturing the immense risks journalists endure while providing information the world urgently needs. The discussion came against...

December 01, 2025 - Palestine -  A Palestinian journalist, speaking under the pseudonym “Yahya” to protect his identity, has come forward with shocking allegations of sexual assault and torture while held in custody by Israeli authorities. According to a report dated 30 November 2025, the journalist told the Palestinian Journalists Protection Center (PJPC) that he and seven other detainees were taken to an isolated area inside a detention centre and subjected to collective sexual violence. Yahya claims that during detention at the Sde Teiman detention camp, he was blindfolded, bound, and held in degrading conditions...

December 01, 2025 - South Sudan - A journalist from South Sudan Media, identified as Santo Jal Dut, was arrested late Monday while livestreaming a massive fire that consumed part of Juba’s Custom Market — an incident that has renewed alarm over media suppression in South Sudan. The blaze erupted near the premises of the state-owned broadcaster, engulfing traders’ shops and leaving many without livelihoods. As flames raged, Dut used his phone to broadcast critical footage of the unfolding disaster. He publicly questioned why emergency services had yet to arrive, suggested the fire might have...

December 01, 2025 - Russia - Journalist Nika Novak, previously sentenced to four years in a Siberian prison for her work with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), has vanished from her penal colony — prompting urgent calls from press-freedom groups for authorities to reveal her whereabouts. Novak was detained on December 25, 2023, after a raid by Russia’s security agents at her home in Chita. She was convicted in a closed-door trial under the country’s expanded “foreign cooperation” law, Article 275.1, which penalizes confidential contact with foreign organisations. On November 26, 2024, a court in...