News

September 19, 2025 - USA/Germany -  Richard Grenell, former U.S. ambassador to Germany and ally of Donald Trump, has demanded that Elmar Thevessen, head of ZDF’s Washington studio, have his U.S. visa revoked over what Grenell describes as Thevessen’s “repeated calls for violence” and alleged rhetoric likened to extremist ideology. The request has sparked concern among media freedom advocates in both Germany and the United States. According to Gazeta Express, Grenell labelled Thevessen a “left-wing radical” and asserted that Thevessen’s coverage crossed acceptable boundaries. ZDF defended its journalist, stating that his work is protected under...

September 19, 2025 - Palestine -  At a “Together for Palestine” concert on September 18 at Wembley Arena, Mehdi Hasan addressed a crowd of around 13,000 people with a forceful speech accusing Western media of abandoning its duty to truth in Gaza. Hasan, CEO and editor-in-chief of Zeteo, described how mainstream outlets have misled, manipulated, and gaslit the public for nearly two years by failing to adequately spotlight the suffering and sacrifice of Palestinian journalists. Hasan said that while many call for increased access for foreign journalists, the real stories are already being told by...

September 19, 2025 - Russia -  In a groundbreaking investigation, Ukrainian journalists from Suspilne have identified the commander of the Russian regiment responsible for one of the most harrowing war crimes committed during the full-scale invasion: the imprisonment of 369 residents of Yahidne, including 69 children, in a school basement for nearly a month in March 2022. The Russian army used the civilians as human shields, turning the school’s upper floors into their headquarters to deter Ukrainian shelling. Ten people died from suffocation, starvation, or untreated illness, while survivors continue to suffer long-term health effects....

September 19, 2025 - Palestine -  Israeli occupation soldiers reportedly assaulted a Palestinian journalist and a doctor during a raid on the town of Arraba, south of Jenin, in the early hours of Friday. The victims were identified as Ahmad Zaki Al-Aridi, a journalist, and Dr. Nidal Al-Arda, both of whom suffered physical assaults after soldiers stormed and ransacked their homes. Witnesses said the two men were beaten during the raid, with their families also subjected to intimidation as property was destroyed. Reports from local media highlighted the severity of the violence, noting that Al-Aridi...

September 18, 2025 - USA - Voice of America, the United States’ largest international broadcaster, is fighting for survival after President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March 2025 to dismantle it. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has joined the legal fight to overturn the decision, standing alongside VoA journalists Patsy Widakuswara, the network’s White House bureau chief, and Jessica Jerreat, its press freedom editor. Both women were placed on leave as the crisis deepened, but they remain determined to defend the broadcaster’s mission. For more than eight decades, VoA has been a critical source...

September 18, 2025 - USA -  Mario Guevara, a Spanish-language reporter born in El Salvador, has now been held in U.S. custody for 100 days following his arrest on June 14, 2025, sparking concern from press-freedom organizations. He was livestreaming a protest against immigration raids in Georgia when the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office detained him, charging him with three misdemeanors: unlawful assembly, obstruction, and being a pedestrian in the roadway. Two days later, a judge ordered that Guevara be released on bond. Instead, he was handed over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which...

September 18, 2025 - Spain -  Spanish journalist Román Cuesta, a reporter for the left-wing online newspaper Diario Red, has used video evidence from his own assault to successfully identify those responsible. The 40-year-old investigative journalist was attacked outside his home in Salamanca on August 27, 2025. In a video circulated on social media, a man is seen pepper-spraying Cuesta while a woman records the incident and verbally insults him. After the attack, Cuesta applied open-source investigation methods and published detailed analyses in Diario Red. He identified both the man who posted the video and...

September 18, 2025 - Palestine -  Journalist Mohammad Ala’ Sawalhi was killed in Gaza City while documenting the human toll of Israel’s ongoing offensive. His death came during one of the deadliest phases of the war, as Israeli forces ordered thousands of civilians to evacuate north Gaza and opened the Salahudin Road as a so-called safe passage toward the south. Instead of safety, those who moved along these routes were often exposed to bombardment, with dozens reported dead the same day. Sawalhi was among thirteen Palestinians killed in this latest wave of violence. According to...

September 18, 2025 - Azerbaijan -  Shamshad Agha (also known as Shamshad Aghayev), editor-in-chief of the independent Azerbaijani website argument.az, has been hospitalized in a penitentiary medical facility in Azerbaijan after his arrest in the “Meydan TV” case. Agha was arrested on February 5, 2025, as part of the “Meydan TV case,” in which multiple journalists and media figures have been detained. He faces charges under Article 206.3.2 of the Azerbaijani Criminal Code, alleging smuggling committed by a group following preliminary conspiracy. Relatives report that Agha suffers from a stomach ulcer condition, which has significantly...

September 18, 2025 - Australia/USA -  The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) was barred from attending a joint press conference between U.S. President Donald Trump and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer at Chequers, outside London, sparking outrage over press freedom concerns. Downing Street cited “logistical reasons” for the exclusion, though ABC was told it would still have access to other parts of the event. The decision came just days after ABC’s Americas editor, John Lyons, clashed with Trump in Washington. At the White House earlier that week, Lyons asked Trump how much his personal wealth had...

September 17, 2025 – Palestine/United Kingdom -  Mohamed Shalaby, a former BBC journalist, has revealed that he resigned from the broadcaster following disputes over how the BBC reported on the death of Palestinian journalist Anas Al-Sharif. His decision came after a BBC story described Al-Sharif as having worked for a Hamas media team, a claim Shalaby insists was unverified and violated the BBC’s editorial standards. Shalaby explained that when he raised questions about the accuracy of this reporting, his concerns were dismissed internally. He says he repeatedly asked for proof and pointed out that Al-Sharif...

September 17, 2025 – Yemen/United States - On 10 September 2025, Israeli airstrikes hit the offices of 26 September, a Yemeni weekly newspaper affiliated with the Houthi movement, killing dozens of civilians and journalists. The attack on Sanaa struck the paper’s publishing house at a moment when staff had gathered for distribution, ensuring high casualties. At least 35 people were killed, including 31 journalists, making it one of the deadliest single attacks on media workers in years. Human Rights Watch confirmed the scale of the deaths and raised alarm that the strike appeared deliberate, given...

September 17, 2025 - General -  At the 2025 World Meeting on Human Fraternity in Rome, AJ+ Managing Director Dima Khatib delivered a powerful speech condemning the complicity of global media in what she described as Israel’s genocide against Palestinians. Speaking before an international audience convened by the Vatican, Khatib urged journalists and media institutions to acknowledge their responsibility in shaping narratives that too often erase or sanitize the suffering in Gaza. Her remarks drew an immediate standing ovation, underscoring the resonance of her message. Khatib emphasized that the ongoing war in Gaza has become...

September 17, 2025 - Canada -  Radio-Canada has placed correspondent Élisa Serret on indefinite leave following controversial comments she made during a live broadcast that were widely condemned as antisemitic. The remarks came during the French-language program Sur le terrain, while Serret was reporting from Washington on U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit to Israel. Asked why the U.S. continues to support Jerusalem, given clashes in Gaza, Serret stated, in French, that “the Israelis, in fact the Jews, finance a lot of American politics” and asserted they control a “big machine.” She also claimed...

September 17, 2025 - Burkina Faso -  After nearly 14 months in enforced military service, Burkinabe journalists Adama Bayala and Alain Traoré have been released and reunited with their families on 17 September 2025. Bayala, a columnist for private TV station BF1, and Traoré, known as “Alain Alain,” the editor-in-chief of Radio Omega’s national languages bureau, were abducted on 28 June and 13 July 2024, respectively. Their disappearance sparked concerns among press freedom advocates, who maintained that both were forcibly conscripted into the armed forces. While Bayala’s conscription was formally acknowledged by the Justice Ministry...

September 17, 2025 - Czechia -  The Czech National Committee of the International Press Institute (IPI) has unveiled a new platform aimed at improving safety for journalists and media professionals. Called “Safe Journalism,” the initiative provides a secure way for journalists to report incidents of harassment, threats, or attacks, and to access legal and psychological support. The platform is designed to fill an urgent gap in protections for journalists amid rising challenges, both online and in person, including verbal abuse, legal intimidation, and mental health strains. Users will be able to log incidents that threaten...

September 17, 2025 - China -  China is set to try journalist Zhang Zhan this week in Shanghai on charges widely viewed as politically motivated. The trial is scheduled for 19 September at the Pudong New Area People’s Court at 9 a.m. local time. Zhang, once a lawyer and citizen reporter, first rose to prominence covering the early COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, posting over 100 videos documenting what some say were abuses and mismanagement of the crisis. She was arrested on 14 May 2020, sentenced to four years in prison, and released in 2022. Her...

September 17, 2025 - Kenya -  Habil Onyango, a reporter with People Daily, was abducted, severely assaulted, and had his belongings damaged after publishing an article exposing alleged fraud in hiring practices at the Homa Bay County Public Service. The journalist says the sequence of events began after the story revealed that a county employee was receiving letters falsely purporting to come from the county public service board. Those letters were part of what Onyang o calls an irregular hiring scheme. According to Onyango’s account, goons allegedly hired by a senior Human Resources (HR) officer...

September 17, 2025 - Kyrgyzstan -  A court in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, has sentenced two former video editors of the independent Kloop media outlet—Zhoomart Duulatov and Alexander Alexandrov—to five years in prison on charges of spreading false information and undermining public order.The pair were detained on May 28, 2025, during a broader operation that included raids on the homes of current and former Kloop staff. Equipment was seized. Their prosecution is widely seen by rights groups as part of a pattern of increasing pressure by authorities on independent journalism. According to Kloop and defense lawyers, the...

September 17, 2025 - USA  -  The National Press Club (NPC) has urged the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to withdraw a proposed regulation that would restrict visas for foreign journalists, warning that the change poses a serious threat to press freedom and could endanger U.S. journalists abroad. The proposal seeks to eliminate the current “duration of status” rule, which allows foreign correspondents to remain in the country as long as their assignments last, and instead impose fixed visa terms—240 days for most reporters and only 90 days for journalists from China. NPC President...

September 17, 2025 - Haiti -  Guyler C. Delva, a prominent Haitian journalist and secretary general of the press freedom organisation SOS Journalistes, says that his advocacy in defense of Haiti’s embattled journalists has made him the target of threats, harassment, and political hostility. In recent weeks, he has alleged that powerful actors—including figures linked to the Transitional Presidential Council—have increased pressure on him in response to his public defense of persecuted media workers. Delva holds multiple roles: beyond leading SOS Journalistes (founded in 2005), he is also vice chair of the Inter-American Press Association’s...

September 17, 2025 - Denmark -  Danish photojournalist Thomas Sjørup has announced his readiness to testify about the crimes committed by Serbian forces during the war in Kosovo, underscoring his role not only as a documentarian of conflict but also as a witness prepared to speak in legal or historical settings. Speaking in Pristina while presenting his book “Kosovo at War”, Sjørup reflected on his experiences covering the conflict and the close bond he developed with Kosovo’s people during one of the darkest chapters in the region’s history. Sjørup recalled how ordinary Albanians welcomed him...

September 16, 2025 – Yemen/Palestine- A Yemeni expert has accused Israel of deliberately targeting journalists and media outlets in Yemen in what he calls “Gaza-style raids,” following airstrikes on the offices of two prominent newspapers: 26 September and Yemen. These attacks reportedly killed 32 journalists and media staff. Abdulrahman Rajeh, a Yemeni journalist and analyst, described the strikes as a grave violation of international law. He emphasized that the targeted buildings were civilian locations, housing media workers who were performing professional duties, and had no military function. The attack, he argues, constitutes a war crime...

September 16, 2025 - Palestine -  A United Nations commission of inquiry has declared that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, citing four of the five genocidal acts defined under international law. In its latest 72-page report, the commission found reasonable grounds to conclude that Israeli forces carried out killings, inflicted serious bodily and mental harm, deliberately imposed destructive conditions of life, and prevented births. These findings were backed by analysis of official statements, including incendiary remarks from Israeli leaders, and a documented pattern of conduct during the war that began on 7...

September 16, 2025 - USA Local journalism in Pennsylvania is at a crossroads a moment that demands attention, support, and action. In a recent reflection, The Spotlight PA-LebTown collaboration outlines how independent, non-partisan journalism is crucial for government accountability, truth, and democracy. They warn that without sufficient resources, journalism that holds power to account risks disappearing. Spotlight PA, founded in 2019, has already shown the impact non-profit investigative reporting can have: saving taxpayers more than $20 million, prompting 36 policy changes at local, state, or federal levels, driving 14 new laws, and securing 8 legal...