News

June 03, 2025 - USA -  Eric Spofford, founder and former CEO of Granite Recovery Centers, a prominent addiction treatment organization in New Hampshire, has been indicted in a case involving harassment and vandalism targeting journalist Lauren Chooljian of New Hampshire Public Radio (NHPR) and her colleagues. The case stems from a series of events following a 2022 investigative report by Chooljian that included allegations of sexual misconduct and financial impropriety against Spofford. Shortly after the report’s publication, Chooljian’s home, her editor’s home, and her parents' house were all vandalized—windows smashed and bricks thrown, one...

June 03, 2025 - Kashmir - Danish Manzoor, a journalist based in Jammu and Kashmir, narrowly escaped a life-threatening attack when unidentified gunmen opened fire on his vehicle in the Budgam district. The incident occurred on Sunday evening, in a part of the region often marred by political tension and sporadic violence. Manzoor, who was inside the car at the time of the attack, reported that at least two bullets struck his vehicle, though he fortunately escaped unhurt. The assailants fled the scene immediately after the attack, and no group has claimed responsibility so far....

June 03, 2025 - Ireland -  Journalists in Northern Ireland are working under increasing levels of fear due to ongoing threats, violence, and intimidation by paramilitary groups and criminal gangs, according to a new Amnesty International report. The study, Occupational Hazard?, paints a grim picture of what it calls the most dangerous region in the UK for media workers. Since 2019, more than 70 incidents involving threats or attacks on journalists have been recorded. These include direct death threats, physical assaults, threats of bombs under cars, and messages demanding reporters leave the country within 48...

June 02, 2025 - Salvador - Salvadoran journalist Javier Antonio Hércules Salinas was fatally shot in Santa Rosa de Copán, Honduras, despite being under state protection since 2023. Hércules, who worked for the television channel A Todo Noticias, was ambushed by gunmen while driving his taxi—a side job he took to support his family. He had been living in Honduras for five years with his wife and children. Hércules had previously survived a kidnapping attempt in 2023, which led to his enrollment in Honduras' Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders, Justice Operators, and Journalists. However,...

June 02, 2025 - Honduras -  Carlos Gilberto Aguirre, a beloved sports commentator and radio host in Honduras, was found murdered on June 1, 2025, in Juticalpa, Olancho. His death has shocked the local community and drawn widespread condemnation from journalists and human rights organizations. Aguirre, who worked for Radio Oro Estéreo, was initially believed to have been struck by a vehicle after his body was discovered on a road. However, an autopsy later revealed that he had suffered multiple stab wounds, confirming that he was murdered. Authorities have since launched a criminal investigation, but...

June 02, 2025 - USA -  Gabrielle Cuccia, a self‑described “MAGA girl,” was OAN’s Pentagon correspondent until late May 2025. Coca‑coloured openly loyal to former President Trump, she didn’t hide her views—until she crossed an unwritten line. Three days after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth introduced new restrictions on reporters’ movements in the Pentagon, Cuccia published a Substack post on Memorial Day titled “The Secretary of Defense‑ive.” In it, she slammed Hegseth for micromanaging press access and criticized his team, stating that real leaks came from senior Pentagon officials, not from journalists sneaking into secure spaces. Her exact...

June 02, 2025 - Canada - Ottawa police arrested journalist Ramona Murphy while she was covering a protest against the CANSEC arms trade show at the EY Centre. Murphy, a volunteer journalist with The North Star, was filming police actions when she was detained alongside 12 other demonstrators. She was threatened with charges of mischief and resisting arrest but was released eight hours later without any formal charges. The North Star condemned the arrest as an attack on press freedom, emphasizing that Murphy was identifiable as a journalist and was documenting the event from a...

June 02, 2025 - Uganda -  Ugandan journalist and human rights activist Agather Atuhaire endured a traumatic experience during her detention by Tanzanian authorities in Dar es Salaam. She had traveled to Tanzania alongside Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi to attend the treason trial of opposition leader Tundu Lissu. Atuhaire recounted that upon their arrival, both were apprehended by security personnel, blindfolded, and taken to an undisclosed location. During her detention, Atuhaire was stripped down to her underwear, beaten, and subjected to invasive procedures involving unidentified substances being inserted into her body. She described being forced...

June 02, 2025 - India -  India’s Supreme Court has agreed to hear a petition filed by two journalists from Madhya Pradesh who allege police officers physically assaulted them after reporting on illegal sand mining in Bhind district. The incident has sparked widespread outrage and drawn attention to the dangers faced by reporters investigating corruption and environmental crime. According to the petition, the two journalists were summoned to a police station in Bhind on May 23, 2024, under the pretense of questioning, but were instead brutally beaten by police officers. The reporters say they were...

June 02, 2025 - Syria/USA -  Newly uncovered Syrian intelligence documents have confirmed that American journalist Austin Tice was held in government custody after his disappearance near Damascus in 2012, despite years of denial from the Assad regime. The revelations come from a BBC investigation that examined top-secret files, now verified by multiple sources, including law enforcement. Austin Tice, a former U.S. Marine turned freelance journalist, vanished while reporting in Syria at the height of the civil war. Until now, his fate had remained a mystery. The documents detail that he was captured by the...

June 02, 2025 - Turkey - Turkish journalist Elif Akgül has been released after spending 101 days in pretrial detention at Bakırköy Women's Closed Prison. Her release follows a court decision prompted by an appeal from the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA). Akgül was arrested on February 18, 2025, during a coordinated operation targeting the People’s Democratic Congress (HDK), a civil platform associated with pro-Kurdish and leftist movements. She was formally imprisoned on February 21 on allegations of “strong suspicion of committing a crime” due to her purported links with the HDK. Press freedom...

June 02, 2025 - Palestine -  Palestinian journalist Ali al-Samoudi has been held in Israeli administrative detention since April 29, 2025, prompting urgent calls from local and international press freedom organizations for his immediate release. Al-Samoudi, 58, was arrested during a pre-dawn raid on his home in Jenin by Israeli forces. He has not been formally charged and is currently being held under a six-month administrative detention order—a controversial measure that allows imprisonment without trial or due process. Al-Samoudi is a longtime correspondent for Al-Quds newspaper and a well-known figure in Palestinian media. His arrest...

June 02, 2025 - Azerbaijan -  Farid Mehralizada, an Azerbaijani economist and journalist working with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), is on trial facing a possible 12-year prison sentence. His case has sparked international concern, with press freedom advocates condemning it as part of a wider clampdown on dissent in Azerbaijan. Mehralizada was arrested in May 2024 under troubling circumstances—detained by unidentified men who reportedly covered his head with a bag and took him to a police facility in Baku. He was later charged with smuggling foreign currency, tax evasion, and document forgery. However, many...

June 01, 2025 - Palestine -  The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate issued an urgent appeal to international institutions to intervene on behalf of detained journalist Ali Sammoudi, whose health is reportedly deteriorating due to medical neglect in Israeli custody. The syndicate holds Israeli authorities fully responsible for his well-being. Sammoudi, 58, was arrested on April 29 at his home in Jenin. Following his detention, he was allegedly subjected to abuse and transferred through multiple facilities, including an Israeli military outpost in Jenin, Al-Jalama detention center, and finally Megiddo prison. On May 8, Israeli authorities issued a...

June 01, 2025 - Palestine -  The BBC has banned Gaza-based freelance journalist Ahmed Alagha from contributing to its Arabic service following revelations of his antisemitic social media posts. Alagha, who had been reporting for BBC Arabic since early 2023, described Jews as "devils" and claimed Israelis were "not human beings," according to reports by The Telegraph and JNS. He also praised a terrorist attack near a Jerusalem synagogue on Holocaust Memorial Day in January 2023, referring to the assailant as a "martyr" who "stole my heart." Despite these posts, BBC Arabic continued to feature...

June 01, 2025 - General -  As threats to press freedom escalate around the world, the Media Freedom Coalition (MFC) and its partners are working to ensure journalists have a safe place to go when their lives are in danger. Recognizing the urgent need for protection, MFC member states have launched several programs aimed at providing emergency refuge and long-term support for media professionals facing persecution. This initiative follows a 2020 report by the High-Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom, which recommended establishing emergency visas and flexible relocation frameworks for at-risk journalists. Countries...

May 28, 2025 - Russia/Ukraine -  A joint investigation by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and Ukrainian watchdog Truth Hounds reveals that since the onset of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, at least 25 hotels near Ukraine’s front lines have been struck by Russian forces. These hotels, known to accommodate journalists, have been targeted in what appears to be a deliberate strategy to suppress independent war reporting. The report documents 31 attacks resulting in injuries to at least 24 journalists and the death of one. Notably, Ryan Evans, a British security advisor for Reuters, was...

June 01, 2025 - Somalia -  In a concerning escalation of press freedom violations, Somali authorities have intensified their crackdown on journalists, with recent incidents highlighting the growing risks faced by media professionals in the country. On May 30, 2025, EU-trained police officers raided the offices of Radio Wanlaweyn FM in Wanla-Weyn town, Lower Shabelle region, arresting its director and founder, Ismail Khalif Ahmed. The arrest followed the station's publication of a report alleging that local authorities were coercing residents into making payments under the guise of funding a hospital construction project. Ahmed reported being...

June 01, 2025 - General - At the Health Journalism 2025 conference in Los Angeles, former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra delivered a compelling message to journalists: "Speak truth to power." Drawing from his tenure during the Biden administration, Becerra emphasized the critical role of the press in combating misinformation and disinformation, particularly when such falsehoods emanate from governmental sources. Becerra highlighted several health policy achievements during his time at HHS, including a nearly 27% reduction in drug overdoses in 2024, the implementation of the 988 mental health hotline, and the expansion...

June 01, 2025 - Ukraine/Russia -  In a major escalation of its military capabilities, Ukraine launched “Operation Spider’s Web” on June 1, 2025, targeting five Russian airbases deep within Russian territory. The bold drone operation, orchestrated by Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU), destroyed or damaged at least 40 Russian aircraft, including several strategic bombers critical to Moscow’s long-range strike arsenal. The strike involved 117 long-range drones, covertly assembled and launched from within Russian borders. These drones hit key airbases at Belaya, Dyagilevo, Olenya, Ivanovo Severny, and Ukrainka, spanning five separate Russian regions and time zones. One...

May 31, 2025 - Palestine -  May 2025 has emerged as one of the darkest months for journalists in Gaza since the war began in October 2023. At least seven media workers were killed in a single month, adding to the grim toll of 221 journalists who have lost their lives in the conflict, according to the Palestinian Journalists Protection Center (PJPC). The deaths were not isolated incidents. Each case paints a chilling picture of journalists caught in, or directly targeted by, military strikes. Moataz Rajab, a correspondent for Al-Quds Al-Youm, was killed on May...

May 30, 2025 - Palestine -  Palestinian journalist Moataz Mohammed Rajab was killed on May 28, 2025, during an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, bringing the total number of media workers killed since the war began in October 2023 to at least 221. Rajab, a cameraman and video editor for Al-Quds Today TV, died when an Israeli missile struck the civilian car he was traveling in on An-Nafaq Street. Four others were also killed in the same attack. Rajab was on his way to report on the aftermath of previous bombings when his vehicle was...

May 30, 2025 - Ethiopia - The Fafen Zone High Court in Jigjiga, Ethiopia, sentenced journalist Ahmed Awga, founder of Jigjiga Television Network (JTN), to two years in prison on charges of disseminating hateful information. The conviction stems from a Facebook post that Awga did not author but was tagged in, raising significant concerns about press freedom in the country. Awga, whose legal name is Ahmed Abdi Omar, was arrested on April 23 following an interview he conducted with a man alleging that his 16-year-old son died after a police beating. Initially charged with incitement,...

May 30, 2025 - UK -  A British court has declared a Metropolitan Police raid on journalist Asa Winstanley's home unlawful, in a decision being hailed as a major victory for press freedom. Winstanley, known for his investigative work with The Electronic Intifada and his newsletter “Palestine is Still the Issue,” had his North London residence searched in October 2024 under counter-terrorism powers. During the early morning raid, officers seized multiple electronic devices, including his phone and laptop. The investigation stemmed from Winstanley’s social media posts related to Palestine, with police citing suspicions of offenses...

May 30, 2025 - Kurdish/Iraq -  In a report dated May 30, 2025, the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights detailed escalating threats and judicial harassment against Kurdish journalists Keyhan Mohammadi-Nejad and Sina Ghasemizadeh. Both journalists, originally from Urmia and currently based in Erbil, Iraq, have been targeted by Iranian security agencies, notably the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), for their human rights advocacy and reporting. The IRGC has intensified efforts to silence these journalists by summoning, interrogating, and verbally abusing their relatives in Iran. This tactic aims to pressure Mohammadi-Nejad and Ghasemizadeh into ceasing their...