News

October 16, 2024 - Malta - Brussels, media freedom advocates—including Media Freedom Rapid Response, IPI, ECPMF, EFJ, CPJ, RSF, and others—gathered in front of the Résidence Palace to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the assassination of Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. Her murder in October 2017, the result of a car-bomb attack while investigating high-level corruption, remains a defining symbol of the threats investigative reporters face. Organizers emphasized Daphne’s legacy as a reminder of the urgent need for structural safeguards, calling on the EU and EU member states to adopt robust protective measures for...

October 15, 2024 - Syria - Deutsche Welle Arabic reporter Adonis Alkhaled was physically assaulted and subjected to homophobic abuse by security guards while covering a concert in Düsseldorf, Germany. The incident occurred in a back alley after Alkhaled had conducted a post-performance interview. Without provocation, a group of guards verbally attacked him and his colleague, including using a homophobic slur, before physically assaulting Alkhaled. Video evidence shows one guard repeatedly punching him in the head. Both journalists were forced to flee and later filed a police report. The concert featured Iraqi artist Al-Shami, whose...

October 14, 2024 - Palestine - Gaza authorities confirmed the killing of Ayman Muhammad Ruwaished, a renowned photojournalist for Al‑Aqsa Satellite channel. His death, attributed to Israeli military fire, marked the 177th journalist killed in Gaza since the outbreak of war on October 7, 2023. Ruwaished was covering the intense military operations unfolding in Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza when he was killed, according to local media reports. The Government Media Office in Gaza condemned the attack as part of a deliberate pattern targeting journalists, urging the international community and press freedom organizations to...

October 14, 2024 - Iran - Tehran’s judicial authorities upheld five-year prison sentences for journalists Niloofar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi, marking a severe escalation in Iran’s campaign against press freedom following the Mahsa Amini protests. Both had initially received lengthy terms—Hamedi was handed seven years and Mohammadi six—for alleged charges including collaboration with a foreign government, propaganda against the state, and assembly against national security. Appeals courts later cleared them of the collaboration charge but maintained convictions on national security and propaganda accusations, capping their sentences at five years each. Both journalists were first arrested...

October 14, 2024 - Russia/Ukraine - 27-year-old Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna was confirmed dead while detained by Russian authorities. She had disappeared in August 2023 while reporting on torture in Russian-controlled southern Ukraine and was later transferred into Russian prisons, where her fate remained unknown for months. Roshchyna was the first Ukrainian journalist to die in Russian captivity and one of twelve killed due to their work during the conflict since 2022. The Russian Defense Ministry notified her father that she had died on September 19, 2024, and by February 2025, her body was returned to Ukraine...

October 14, 2024 - Lebanon - Reuters video journalist Issam Abdallah was killed while reporting on cross-border clashes between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. Abdallah, 37, and six other journalists from Reuters, AFP, and Al‑Jazeera were identified as press—wearing “PRESS” helmets and jackets—when they came under direct fire from Israeli tank shells. Investigations by the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch concluded that Abdallah's death resulted from a deliberate attack on journalists. UNIFIL found no cross-border exchange of fire before the strike, indicating clear targeting;...

October 12, 2024 - Nigeria - A team of Nigerian sports journalists traveling to cover an international football match was ambushed by gunmen in Anambra State, resulting in a deadly attack that left three people dead and one journalist still missing. The victims were part of a 14-member SuperSport broadcast crew en route to Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, to cover Nigeria’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Libya. The attack took place on the Ihiala-Orlu Road, a region plagued by insecurity and frequent abductions. The assailants opened fire on the vehicle, killing a cameraman, a...

October 12, 2024 - Russia - In a stark escalation of Russia's control over war coverage, a court in Kursk on October 11, 2024, issued an arrest warrant in absentia for CNN’s Chief International Security Correspondent Nick Paton Walsh. The court accused him of illegally entering Russian territory by reporting from Ukrainian-held Sudzha in the Kursk region following Ukraine's August incursion. Authorities have requested his extradition, declaring he should be arrested "on Russian territory or upon extradition". The move builds on a criminal case opened in August 2024, with Russia’s FSB charging Paton Walsh and...

October 12, 2024 - Venezuela - In the wake of Nicolás Maduro’s contested July 2024 re‑election, Venezuela has quietly revoked the passports of at least 40 journalists and human rights activists, according to Caracas–based Laboratorio de Paz, as documented by Financial Times and Reuters. Many learned of the cancellations only when attempting to travel, with documents being seized without explanation at the country’s main airport. This tactic aligns with Maduro’s broader strategy of targeted repression—dropping airport seizures and overt violence for subtler, systemic intimidation. Laboratorio de Paz explained that “unlike murder or torture, which have...

October 11, 2024 - Palestine - An in-depth investigation by The Intercept, published on October 11, 2024, has revealed disturbing evidence suggesting that Israeli forces have deliberately targeted journalists in Gaza since the start of the war in October 2023. Drawing from eyewitness testimonies, verified videos, and open-source intelligence, the report alleges that the killings of several Palestinian journalists were not accidental but the result of direct and intentional strikes. The report highlights that local journalists, many of whom were wearing marked "PRESS" vests and working in areas known to be occupied by media crews,...

October 11, 2024 - Palestine - Al Jazeera cameraman and teacher Omar Al-Balaawi was fatally shot by Israeli forces in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza. The 26-year-old journalist was on assignment, covering the devastation in the densely populated area, when he was hit by gunfire. His colleague, fellow cameraman Fadi Al-Wahidi, was critically injured in the same attack after being shot in the neck. Al-Balaawi’s death marks yet another grim addition to the rising toll of Palestinian journalists killed during Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza. Al-Balaawi was more than just a journalist. He...

October 11, 2024 - USA - American journalist Jeremy Loffredo, known for reporting on Middle Eastern conflicts, was detained by Israeli authorities in the occupied West Bank. Loffredo, working as a freelance correspondent for European media outlets, had reported critically on Israeli military operations and Iranian-linked missile activity in Gaza. His arrest came days after coverage accusing Hamas of obscuring battlefield setbacks and alleged ties to Iran. Israeli military and security forces accused Loffredo of violating censorship rules during an active operation and conducting unauthorized field reporting. They held him for approximately nine hours, during...

October 11, 2024 - Ukraine/Russia - 27-year-old Ukrainian journalist Victoriia Roshchyna went missing after traveling to Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine for reporting. She last checked in on August 3, before vanishing while covering the occupied Zaporizhzhia region.. Her disappearance remained unexplained until April 2024, when Russia confirmed she was being held in detention, at one point in Taganrog’s notorious SIZO-2 prison. Roshchyna, a freelancer for outlets including Ukrainska Pravda, Hromadske, and Radio Free Europe, was an award-winning journalist. She received the 2022 Courage in Journalism Award for her courageous reportage from Mariupol during its prolonged siege. On October 10,...

October 11, 2024 - Turkey - The European Parliament passed a resolution highlighting a concerning deterioration in press freedom in Turkey, as the judiciary continues granting prison sentences to journalists and activists. The motion condemned what it called systemic suppression of independent media, irregular prosecutions under vaguely defined laws, and politically motivated censorship actions. The resolution is timely: 2024 marked “a lost year” for Turkish media, with journalist associations reporting a sharp uptick in judicial harassment and sentencing. According to Index on Censorship, 36 journalists received convictions in the year leading up to May 2025—resulting...

October 10, 2024 - Palestine - Two Al Jazeera cameramen, Ali al-Attar and Fadi al-Wahidi, were critically injured in separate Israeli strikes while reporting from Gaza. Both were wearing marked press vests and documenting the humanitarian crisis in refugee camps when they were shot by Israeli forces, in what media watchdogs describe as a deliberate assault on journalists. Fadi al-Wahidi, a veteran journalist, was struck by sniper fire in the neck while filming in Jabalia refugee camp. He was immediately rushed to Al-Ahli Hospital, where doctors revealed that the bullet had damaged major arteries and...

October 09, 2024 - Palestine - Al Jazeera Media Network released a press statement sharply criticizing Israeli Occupation Forces for the deliberate targeting of its journalists in Gaza. The escalation began with the shooting of two cameramen—Ali al‑Attar and Fadi al‑Wahidi—in different parts of northern Gaza. Al‑Wahidi sustained a neck wound while covering a military assault in Jabalia camp, and two days prior, al‑Attar was injured while documenting displaced civilians in Deir al‑Balah. The network stated that these were "grave violations" of journalistic safety and international law. Al Jazeera rejected Israeli military claims, labeling six of its reporters as...

October 09, 2024 - Palestine - Israeli warplanes struck an Al‑Aqsa TV news crew near the Abu Sharakh roundabout in Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza. The strike killed photojournalist Mohammad al‑Tanani and injured reporter Tamer Lubbad, according to Al‑Aqsa TV’s Telegram announcement. The targeting appeared intentional, aimed at media crews, and ambulances were reportedly delayed from accessing the scene. This tragic incident marks yet another escalation in the violence against journalists in Gaza. With al‑Tanani’s death, the Gaza Media Office placed the total number of journalists killed since the start of the intensified Israeli offensive...

October 06, 2024 - Palestine -  19-year-old freelance journalist Hassan Hamad was killed when an Israeli artillery strike hit his home in Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza. In the days before his death, Hamad had received explicit threats via WhatsApp from an individual posing as an Israeli officer, warning him to stop filming Israeli military actions or face deadly consequences—a chilling precursor to the strike that ended his life. A freelance reporter whose footage had been featured by major outlets like Al Jazeera and Middle East Eye, Hamad's work focused on exposing the impacts of...

October 10, 2024 - Palestine - Marking one year since Israel launched its military campaign on Gaza in October 2023, the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) and IFEX released a harrowing report detailing 1,029 Israeli violations against Palestinian media and journalists. The report, titled “A Palestinian Media Nakba,” reveals a systematic, year-long assault on press freedom, which both organizations argue amounts to an intentional silencing of Palestinian voices. The violations include killings, injuries, arrests, censorship, and destruction of media infrastructure. Among the most devastating findings is the death toll: at least 130...

October 05, 2024 - Malaysia - Malaysian media watchers raised the alarm over a dramatic collapse of independent journalism. A collaborative analysis by Malaysia Today and Eurasia Review paints a stark portrait: over 71 journalists laid off since February, two online news outlets shuttered, and a creeping “new regime of censorship” reshaping the media landscape. This crackdown is driven by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), which has blocked dozens of websites and journalists after negative coverage of the government. In return, the state offers conditional funding, dictating allowable content and effectively neutering editorial...

October 05, 2024 - Palestine -  Israeli forces committed 185 documented violations against Palestinian journalists in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS). The figures, released in a detailed report, underscore a deliberate campaign to silence Palestinian media voices amid intensifying conflict and occupation. Among the violations, the most severe were two journalist fatalities in Gaza and the injury of nine others in the West Bank by live ammunition while covering protests or military operations. These incidents, PJS states, were not isolated or accidental but part of an escalating...

October 04, 2024 - Palestine -  The Palestinian Authority (PA) sparked outrage by suspending Al Jazeera’s broadcasts in the occupied West Bank. Citing accusations of incitement, the PA moved to silence one of the region’s most prominent news outlets during a period of heightened tension. The action immediately drew condemnation from journalist unions, human rights groups, and civil society, who warned that this internal repression mirrors the very authoritarian tactics Palestinians have long opposed. According to Middle East Eye, several groups, including the Palestinian Media Forum and the Lawyers for Justice group, denounced the suspension...

October 04, 2024 - Ethiopia -  Yeshihasab Abera, deputy editor at the state-owned Bekur newspaper in Bahir Dar, Amhara region, was forcefully taken from his office by Ethiopian security forces. His whereabouts have remained unknown since his transfer to a detention facility in Dangila. Authorities have refused to disclose any charges or allow communication with legal counsel or family, raising alarm among press freedom advocates. Abera’s arrest occurred amid a broader government offensive in Amhara targeting civilians, academics, and media professionals under the guise of "law enforcement operations" following the integration of regional militias into...

October 04, 2023 - Ireland/UK -  In a landmark ruling in December 2024, the UK’s Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) found that the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and the Metropolitan Police unlawfully conducted covert surveillance on journalists Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey in 2018. The covert operation—authorized by then-Chief Constable Sir George Hamilton—took place during the investigation into the Loughinisland massacre documentary, No Stone Unturned, which accused police of collusion in the 1994 killings of six Catholic men during the Troubles. The tribunal determined that the surveillance violated human rights and journalistic source protections because it failed to assess whether...

October 04, 2024 - Senegal -  The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has issued a stark warning over the growing threats to press freedom in Senegal following a wave of arrests and physical attacks targeting journalists. Between September 30 and October 2, 2024, at least four media workers faced detention or assault in a troubling escalation of state and non-state hostility toward the press. On September 30, journalist Kader Dia, a political commentator for Sen TV, was arrested by the cybercrime police after making televised remarks that allegedly insulted Senegalese police officers. He was held...