Research

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) published its full annual report on journalists and media staff killed in 2022. The 32nd report details 68 killings of media professionals, including targeted and bomb attacks and crossfire deadly incidents. There were also 11 deaths due to accidents and illness IFJ Killed List Report - 2022 - IFJ   PDF - FIJ_2022_Killed_List

2024 - To mark World Press Freedom Day on May 3, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), on behalf of the South Asia Media Solidarity Network (SAMSN), releases its 22nd annual South Asia Press Freedom Report, entitled ‘Artificial Independence: The Fight to Save Media and Democracy’. https://www.ifj.org/media-centre/reports/detail/artificial-independence-south-asia-press-freedom-report-2023-24/category/publicati   PDF - Artificial_Independence_IFJ_SAPFR_2023-24

2020 - The Fourth Report by the High-Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom The report concludes with three major recommendations to the signatories to the Global Pledge on Media Freedom, and other key governments, to strengthen investigations into attacks on journalists, address the issue of impunity and progress towards accountability, including the creation of a standing international Investigative Task Force.   PDF - advice-on-promoting-more-effective-investigations-into-abuses-against-journalists   https://mediafreedomcoalition.org/who-is-involved/high-level-panel-of-legal-experts/reports/

The First Report by the High-Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom The report examines current challenges faced by journalists around the world and recommends the consistent use of targeted sanctions as a tool to enforce compliance with international human rights law, including the right to a free press. The report contains an in-depth analysis of the existing systems for targeted sanctions in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the European Union and concludes with eleven recommendations for designing and implementing global human rights sanctions regimes to better protect journalists around the...

Source: Al Jazeera Media Institute - Journalists testimonies from Gaza and the West Bank - The testimony of Al Jazeera correspondent Hisham Zaqout reveals the immense burden Palestinian journalists carry in documenting the war in Gaza. His words—expressed through tears and exhaustion—highlight the pain of reliving trauma, where faith alone sustains endurance. From the start, this project sought to preserve unfiltered testimonies from journalists enduring siege, starvation, displacement, and death. These accounts were not refined for style but captured as raw historical records, driven by fear that both journalists and their memories could be erased...

The report on the suppression of media and journalists in the first half of 2024 is based on 216 documented cases by researchers from the Organization for the Defending Free Flow Of Information (DeFFI). According to these documented cases, from January 1, 2024, to June 30, 2024 (11 Dey 1402 – 10 Tir 1403 in the Iranian calendar), 181 media outlets, journalists, and media activists experienced judicial and security confrontations from the Islamic Republic. July 16, 2024 - Source: DeFFI - During this period, the Defending Free Flow Of Information recorded 236 instances of judicial...

June 25, 2024 - Source: Forbidden Stories - On May 4, 2024, two journalists from Al Araby TV who were covering an Israeli raid in the West Bank were fired upon. Forbidden Stories and its partners reconstructed the trajectory of the first shot that hit the camera, determining that it came from Israeli forces vehicles parked only about sixty meters away. “Since the incident, I keep telling the photographer: I feel like I’ll be killed.” Ameed Shehade can still hear the sound of the bullet grazing past his head. The Al Araby TV correspondent and his cameraman,...

Groundbreaking new research also reports that 11% of surveyed have faced physical violence in their reporting. June 5, 2024 - Source: the guardian - Almost four out of every 10 journalists covering the climate crisis and environment issues have been threatened as a result of their work, with 11% subjected to physical violence, according to groundbreaking new research. A global survey of more than 740 reporters and editors from 102 countries found that 39% of those threatened “sometimes” or “frequently” were targeted by people engaged in illegal activities such as logging and mining. Some 30%, meanwhile, were...

The Nobel laureate won plaudits early on for releasing imprisoned journalists. Today, his government depicts journalists as spies and traitors, and is accused of arresting, harassing and murdering them.  June 3, 2024 - Source: Africanarguments -   Muhiyadin Mohamed Abdullahi, a multimedia journalist, was sentenced to two years in prison in April 2024 on questionable “hate speech” charges. Photo courtesy: Muhiyadin Mohamed Abdullahi social media. On International World Press Freedom Day, the world commemorated the sacrifices of media workers around the world and celebrated the advances made to enshrine press freedoms and permit journalists to freely carry...

June 2024 - monthly report - Women Press Freedom Venezuela and Georgia Lead in Press Freedom Violations for June 2024 WPF recorded a total of 70 press freedom violations in June 2024.   Note from the Editor: June 2024 has been a challenging month for journalists around the world, marked by a series of threats, arrests, and physical assaults. In Iran, Saba Azarpeik's tragic miscarriage while imprisoned is a stark reminder of the severe conditions journalists endure. The imprisonment of journalists like Alena Timashchuk in Belarus, Hiba Abu Taha in Jordan, and Sophia Huang Xueqin in...

UNESCO joint research dating back 15 years found violence and intimidation against about 750 reporters and 44 murders. 02 May 2024 - Source: The Guardian -  More than 70% of environmental journalists have been attacked for their work since 2009, according to a UNESCO report, which warns of rising threats against those covering the climate crisis. At least 749 environmental journalists have faced violence and intimidation in the last 15 years, the UN body found. It said that 44 reporters were murdered between 2009 and 2023 but that resulted in just five convictions. UNESCO and the International...

March 29, 2024 - Source: The Wall Street Journal -  From Vladimir Putin in Russia to the theocrats in Iran, authoritarian leaders are increasingly shutting down independent media and locking up reporters, with hundreds of journalists now in jail around the globe. The surge in government crackdowns on the press, which accelerated after Russia invaded Ukraine two years ago, has left more than 520 journalists imprisoned worldwide, including a few dozen under house arrest, according to the Paris-based advocacy group Reporters Without Borders. The figure is among the highest the group has ever recorded. The crackdowns reverse an expansion...

Report says it is difficult to track journalist deaths in Gaza due to Israeli non-cooperation   Nearly three-quarters of all journalists and media workers killed in 2023 were Palestinians who were killed in the first three months of the Israeli war in Gaza, said the annual report of Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)  released on Thursday , February 15. According to the CPJ, at least 99 journalists and media workers were killed in 2023. This is the highest number of journalists and media persons killed in a year since 2015 and was a 44% increase from last...

Last year was one of the worst years for journalists on record, with 79 journalists alone killed in the Israel-Gaza conflict. With other conflicts in Sudan and Ukraine, with a mass of elections happening globally, and an escalation of threats in countries such as Ecuador, the environment for journalists is increasingly hostile. January 12, 2024 - Source: Publicmedia alliance - On the day before New Year’s Eve, with journalists preparing for a third year reporting on the war in Ukraine, a Russian airstrike hit the Kharkiv Palace Hotel. “There is an incredibly loud thud, the building...

International Federation of Journalists says 68 killed covering Israel-Gaza war, more than in any other conflict in over 30 years A leading organization representing journalists worldwide has expressed deep concern at the number of media professionals killed around the globe doing their jobs in 2023, with more journalists killed during Israel’s war with Hamas than in any other conflict in more than 30 years. In its annual count of media worker deaths, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said 94 journalists had been killed so far this year and almost 400 others had been imprisoned....

Source: Al Jazeera Media Institute -  By Dr Abdulsamad Zangana -  The development of new technology in recent years has offered ordinary people various online digital platform tools and internet access in providing news stories, information and subjects of public interest in the Kurdistan Region Government-Iraq (KRI). This shifting aspect has offered more opportunities for ordinary people to engage with other individuals in many issues in order to discuss and argue matters relating to their everyday lives. The key purpose of this research project will examine the role of citizen journalism in the increase of...

Shireen Abu Akleh, the renowned veteran journalist for Al Jazeera, the 24-hour Arabic news channel, was a mainstay in homes across the Palestinian territories, the wider region and for Arabs and Muslims globally. The strong yet mild-mannered Shireen joined Al Jazeera in 1997 as a field journalist and was introduced on air by the Arabic channel’s Palestine bureau chief Walid Omary. At that time, only a few female Palestinian journalists were working as reporters, and Shireen's career blazed a trail for many young women aspiring to be journalists. The first Oslo Accord had been signed...

Nearly 1,700 journalists have been killed worldwide over the past 20 years, an average of more than 80 a year, according to an analysis published by Reporters Without Borders. The two decades between 2003 and 2022 were "especially deadly decades for those in the service of the right to inform", said the Paris-based media rights campaigners. "Behind the figures, there are the faces, personalities, talent and commitment of those who have paid with their lives for their information gathering, their search for the truth and their passion for journalism," RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire said. Iraq...

January 21, 2022 - General  Journalists working in conflict zones or under authoritarian regimes face serious risks that may require sudden evacuation. GIJN’s guide outlines essential steps for preparing in advance to ensure safety and survival in emergencies. First, journalists should gather and securely store important documents. These include original and scanned copies of passports, national IDs, driver’s licenses, birth and marriage certificates, academic diplomas, press cards, and vaccination records. It's crucial to keep both physical and digital backups—ideally encrypted and stored in secure cloud services like Sync.com or Google Drive. Sharing copies with trusted...