News

January 20, 2025 - Palestine -  The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) has launched a new mobile application called “Raqeb” to help Palestinian journalists and human rights defenders safely document and report press freedom violations and related abuses, in response to a sharp increase in restrictions, arrests, and harassment faced by media workers in the occupied Palestinian territories. The app was unveiled on January 19, 2026, as part of broader efforts to strengthen accountability and protection mechanisms for those covering human rights issues and conflict-related developments. Raqeb — meaning “The Observer” —...

January 20, 2026 - General - A documentary film about the life and work of Palestinian photojournalist Fatima Hassouna has won a major award at the 2026 Lumière Awards in France, bringing global recognition to both her journalism and the devastating circumstances of her death. Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk, directed by Iranian-French filmmaker Sepideh Farsi, documents Hassouna’s life in the Gaza Strip during the prolonged conflict and was honoured in the documentary category at the ceremony. The film’s accolade cements its status not only as a work of cinematic merit but...

January 20, 2026 - Lebanon - The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its Lebanese affiliate, the Union of Journalists of Lebanon (UJL), have condemned a series of attacks and threats by the Israeli army against journalists reporting in southern Lebanon, highlighting growing risks for media professionals covering the ongoing conflict along the Lebanon–Israel border. The incidents documented by late December 2025 reflect a pattern of intimidation, violence, and threats that have endangered journalists’ lives and obstructed their reporting. The IFJ press release recounts three separate incidents in which journalists were directly threatened or came...

January 20, 2025 - Bangladesh -  Ahead of Bangladesh’s upcoming national election, 50 women journalists from across the Chattogram division participated in a specialised training programme focused on election reporting, safety, and information integrity, as part of a United Nations-supported initiative designed to strengthen ethical and credible journalism during polls. The two sessions took place over consecutive weekends in January 2026 and were organised by the media development group Somosti under the UN Ballot Project, with financial and technical support from UNESCO’s Dhaka office. Participants represented a broad cross-section of media outlets, including print, broadcast,...

January 20, 2026 - Turkey -  Press freedom advocates in Turkey report a significant escalation in efforts to restrict independent journalism and expression, with the BİA Media Monitoring Report 2025 documenting a marked rise in legal harassment, criminalisation, and intimidation of media professionals and critics. The annual report, published by the independent media organisation BİA Media Monitoring, concludes that actors aiming to silence journalists have become more brazen in using state mechanisms and legal tools to target reporting and dissent. According to the 2025 monitoring data, journalists faced a normalization of punitive measures, including arrests, prolonged...

January 20, 2026 - USA - Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has documented a concerning pattern of violent attacks and intimidation against journalists in Minnesota, particularly in the context of federal immigration enforcement operations and large-scale protests that followed deadly encounters between ICE agents and civilians early in 2026. The report, published on January 20, 2026, marks these incidents as part of a broader deterioration in press freedom conditions in the United States during the opening year of the Trump administration’s second term. According to RSF, at least six journalists and media workers were physically assaulted...

January 20, 2026 - USA -  Former television journalist Don Lemon is at the centre of a federal investigation and possible prosecution for his role in covering and appearing at an anti-ICE protest that disrupted a church service in St. Paul, Minnesota, on January 18, 2026, as authorities grapple with a surge in immigration enforcement and rising public unrest. Lemon’s presence and livestreaming of the event have sparked debate over journalism, protest rights, and the application of federal law. The protest occurred at Cities Church, where demonstrators confronted worshippers and a pastor identified by participants...

January 19, 2026 - Iran - Navid Zarrehbin Irani, a **Bahá’í documentary photographer based in Mashhad, has been arrested by Iranian security forces, raising alarm among human rights and press freedom advocates about religious discrimination and suppression of independent reporting in the Islamic Republic. Irani’s detention, which occurred on January 16, 2026, comes during an ongoing nationwide internet blackout that has further obscured information about his condition and whereabouts. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Irani was apprehended when security forces raided his home in Mashhad and confiscated his personal and professional equipment,...

January 19, 2026 - Syria -  Journalists and civil society figures in northern and eastern Syria have issued a unified warning about the escalation of hate speech and inflammatory rhetoric within Syrian and Arab media, expressing deep concern over its effect on societal cohesion and civil peace amid ongoing conflict and transitional governance. Their statements, delivered during public forums and press statements on January 19, 2026, highlight increasing media discourse that critics argue deepens divisions among Syria’s diverse populations and fuels societal fractures. At the centre of the concerns is rhetoric emanating from media outlets...

January 19, 2026 - USA - A federal immigration enforcement operation led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has triggered deepening unrest and fear in Minneapolis, Minnesota, particularly after a fatal shooting by an ICE agent on January 7, 2026, of Renée Good, a resident, an event that significantly intensified federal actions and community response. The heightened enforcement, part of what authorities describe as “Operation Metro Surge,” has seen hundreds of federal agents deployed across the city and has had direct impacts on residents’ daily lives, including students, families, and business owners. Among the...

January 19, 2026 - Taiwan -  A Taiwanese journalist identified by the surname Lin has been detained by prosecutors in Taiwan on allegations that he bribed active-duty and retired military officers to obtain confidential military information for contacts linked to mainland China, marking an unusual and high-profile case involving a member of the press in a national security probe. Taiwan’s authorities view the incident within the broader context of tightened efforts to guard against espionage and infiltration from Beijing. According to the Qiaotou District Prosecutors' Office, a district court ordered the detention of Lin along...

January 19, 2026 - Pakistan -  The Government of Pakistan has significantly escalated its use of in absentia convictions and arrest warrants against journalists and commentators living abroad—an expansion of legal pressure that underscores growing state efforts to suppress critical reporting beyond its borders. These developments, highlighted in recent coverage by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and corroborated by regional news outlets, have alarmed press freedom advocates and independent media observers. In early January 2026, an anti-terrorism court in Islamabad convicted four foreign-based Pakistani journalists and commentators in absentia in connection with their coverage...

January 19, 2026 - Indonesia -  Journalists in Indonesia are confronting a worsening environment for press freedom, with a sharp increase in violence, intimidation, digital harassment, and legal pressures recorded throughout 2025, according to reports by press freedom advocates and media organisations. The pattern of threats spans physical assaults in the field, online harassment campaigns, and institutional interference that collectively undermine journalists’ safety and independence. The Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) documented at least 89 incidents against journalists over the past year, including 30 physical attacks and 29 digital assaults, along with cases of coverage...

January 19, 2026 - France/Turkey - A French journalist, Raphael Boukandoura, was among 10 people detained by Turkish police on January 19, 2026, during a protest in Istanbul against a Syrian government military offensive that targeted Kurdish-led forces in northern Syria. The demonstration took place outside the People’s Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party) headquarters in Sancaktepe, where participants were calling for an immediate halt to the offensive and the protection of civilians. Turkish authorities intervened to break up the gathering, leading to multiple arrests, including Boukandoura’s. Boukandoura, who reports for French outlets including Ouest-France...

January 19, 2026 - Nigeria -  The Federal Government of Nigeria has filed an application with the Court of Appeal in Abuja seeking permission to challenge a 2024 Federal High Court judgment that directed it to investigate, prosecute, and prevent attacks against journalists and other media practitioners, reigniting debate over press safety and state accountability. The motion was lodged in late December 2025 by counsel from the Federal Ministry of Justice on behalf of the Attorney-General of the Federation, and requests an extension of time to appeal after the statutory three-month filing window elapsed. The...

January 19, 2026 - Turkey -  Hundreds of people gathered in Istanbul, Turkey, on January 19, 2026, to mark the 19th anniversary of the assassination of Hrant Dink, the prominent Turkish-Armenian journalist and editor-in-chief of the bilingual newspaper Agos. Dink was shot dead in broad daylight outside the newspaper’s former office in Şişli district on January 19, 2007, an act that provoked widespread national and international outrage and spotlighted threats to press freedom and minority rights in Turkey. The annual commemoration was held outside the Sebat Apartment building, the site where Agos once operated and...

January 18, 2026 - Romania - The International Press Institute (IPI) has issued a formal call for an impartial police investigation into a coordinated online smear campaign targeting Romanian investigative journalist Emilia Sercan, amid widespread condemnation of harassment and death threats directed at her following her reporting on allegations of academic plagiarism involving senior government figures. Press freedom advocates describe the coordinated abuse as both a personal safety threat and a broader attack on independent journalism in Romania. Sercan, a seasoned investigative reporter known for exposing high-profile cases of plagiarism and corruption, has been subjected...

January 18, 2026 - India - A journalist from ABP Anand, Parthapratim Ghosh, and his colleague, photojournalist Ujjwal Ghosh, were attacked by an aggressive mob on January 17, 2026, while reporting on violent protests in Beldanga town in Murshidabad district, West Bengal, India. The violence erupted amid demonstrations over the death of a local migrant worker from Jharkhand, whose body was returned to his hometown amid suspicion and grief, prompting locals to block National Highway-12 and railway tracks in protest. Reporters and media personnel covering the unrest were repeatedly targeted by protesters seeking to prevent their...

January 18, 2026 - Bangladesh -  Journalists, editors, and owners of media outlets in Bangladesh have publicly demanded that national authorities provide enhanced protection for the press following a series of violent attacks on major newspapers and escalating threats against media professionals. Their appeal comes amid intensifying political tension and rising hostility toward independent journalism ahead of the country’s February 2026 general elections. The calls for protective action were voiced during a high-profile conference organised in Dhaka on January 17, 2026, by the Editors Council and the Newspaper Owners’ Association of Bangladesh (NOAB). Attendees—including journalists...

January 17, 2025 - USA - A coalition of press freedom and civil liberties organisations, including the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), has issued two urgent appeals for greater legal transparency and oversight following the FBI’s January 14, 2026, search of The Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson’s Virginia residence. The action, part of a federal probe into a government contractor accused of mishandling classified material, resulted in agents seizing Natanson’s electronic devices, including her work and personal laptops, a phone, and other equipment—though authorities have said she herself is not the focus of the investigation....

January 17, 2026 - Malaysia -  Rex Tan, a former reporter for the Malaysian news outlet Free Malaysia Today (FMT), was arrested under Malaysia’s Sedition Act 1948 on January 17, 2026, after posing a contentious question at a public lecture in Kuala Lumpur that many perceived to contain racial implications. Police summoned Tan to the Dang Wangi district police headquarters around midnight, and he was detained under Section 4(1) of the Sedition Act and Section 505(c) of the Penal Code—provisions linked to statements that could provoke public alarm or fear. Authorities are continuing an investigation...

January 17, 2026 - Argentina -  Argentinian journalist Julia Mengolini, founder and director of the independent radio station Futuröck, is preparing to pursue legal action against President Javier Milei and multiple associates following a sustained campaign of online harassment that included deepfake pornography targeted at her and intense political attacks. Mengolini filed a lawsuit alleging unlawful association, embezzlement of public funds, coercive threats, and public incitement to hatred, asserting that the coordinated abuse was orchestrated by figures within the president’s political circle. A judge has not yet set a trial date. Mengolini’s legal battle stems...

January 16, 2026 - Cuba -  Independent Cuban journalist Henry Constantin, director of the digital outlet La Hora de Cuba and a vocal critic of government repression, went missing in Havana on January 14, 2026, following a large-scale security operation involving Cuba’s Revolutionary Armed Forces, the Ministry of the Interior, and State Security. The disappearance sparked widespread concern among colleagues, civil society groups, and journalism advocates over his safety and the circumstances of his sudden disappearance. According to an urgent statement posted by La Hora de Cuba, Constantin’s last known communication with his team occurred...

January 16, 2026 - Sudan -  A report by the Sudanese Journalists Syndicate (SJS) has revealed that at least 14 journalists and media workers were killed in Sudan during 2025, part of a broader pattern of systematic attacks and violations against the press amid the ongoing civil war that began in April 2023. The syndicate’s 2025 press freedom report, released on January 14, 2026, documented these deaths alongside a range of other abuses that imperil journalists’ safety and the public’s right to information. According to the SJS findings, paramilitary forces, notably the Rapid Support Forces...

January 16, 2026 - Cuba -  Independent Cuban journalist José Gabriel Barrenechea, a contributor to the online outlet 14ymedio, has been sentenced to six years in prison by a provincial court in Villa Clara, Cuba, following a conviction on charges of “public disorder” related to his role in a peaceful protest during a nationwide power outage in November 2024. The ruling, delivered on January 15, 2026, upholds the sentence originally sought by the prosecution and marks a significant escalation in the government’s treatment of dissenting voices amid ongoing civil and economic pressures on the island....