Research

The plan for the Saxony Budget 2025/2026 reduces financial support for the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) by two-thirds. This poses a significant threat to the stability of the only European civil society organisation operating within the state. The ECPMF acknowledges the difficulty of navigating a state budget amid economic uncertainty. However, in times when public interest journalism and democratic discourse are under severe pressure – facing economic constraints, pressures, disinformation campaigns, a reduced readership, and attacks from the far-right – a strong protection mechanism and unwavering support for press and media freedom in Saxony, Germany, and...

After 18 months of war, photojournalist Abdul Raouf Shaath thought he had seen everything. Mr. Shaath was taking a nap in a tent encampment near Khan Yunis’ Nasser Hospital April 6 after a long day documenting missile strikes, when an Israeli airstrike shook the ground and sent shrapnel flying. He rushed outside to find a local news outlet’s tent in flames.   Why We Wrote This A story focused on Courage Gaza journalists continue to don their press vests and report – even as Israel blurs the line between media workers and military targets and...

The number of people held in immigration detention by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) essentially flatlined this month. The total detained population — counted as beds occupied at midnight on a single day — barely increased from 47,892 to 47,928 between March 23 and April 16, an increase of 36. There’s more than meets the eye, however. Journalists should not interpret this as evidence that ICE is not arresting and detaining people. In fact, this gives us an opportunity to level up our understanding of detention data. Let’s dive into it. While the decline...

Joakim Medin, special correspondent for the Swedish media Dagens ETC, has been held since 30 March in the high-security Marmara prison in the Silivri district of Istanbul and will appear in court on 30 April. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on the authorities to release the journalist, who specialises in Kurdish issues, and to end the crackdown on news professionals.  Arrested on 27 March upon his arrival in Istanbul, Joakim Medin has been accused of “insulting the president,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan, “belonging to an armed terrorist organisation,” and “spreading terrorist propaganda.” The charges are linked to his...

Artificial intelligence is already affecting the way news is produced and received in the United States. But Americans are pessimistic about its long-term effect on the news people get and on the already-embattled journalism profession. Roughly half of U.S. adults say that AI will have a very (24%) or somewhat (26%) negative impact on the news people get in the U.S. over the next 20 years. Just 10% say it will have a very (2%) or somewhat (8%) positive effect, according to a summer 2024 Pew Research Center survey. About a quarter (23%) say AI’s impact in this area will be...

Today marks the 20th anniversary since the abduction and murder of Tamil journalist Dharmeratnam Sivaram. Sivaram, popularly known under his nom-de-plume Taraki, was abducted in front of Bambalipitiya police station in Colombo on April 28 and was found dead several hours later in a high security zone in Sri Lanka's capital, which at the time had a heavy police and military presence due to the ongoing conflict. His killers, highly suspected to be linked to the government of then-president Chandrika Kumaratunga, were never caught. Read his last article, written just days before he was murdered here....

Source: Reuters Institute -   6.1 Introduction This chapter outlines our findings concerning the safety threats that UK journalists1 experienced, from surveillance and hate speech to legal threats and sexual harassment. Firstly, we explain why this topic was introduced into the survey for the first time, and how it was approached and measured. Secondly, we report how frequently UK journalists said they experienced various safety threats and felt stressed at work. Thirdly, we describe how worried they were about their physical, emotional, and mental well-being. Next, we highlight how gender, the medium, and journalists’ seniority affected their experience of safety...

The role of journalists has been changing for some time now. Due to the rise of social media, journalists no longer hold the monopoly on informing the public and holding the powerful to account. Nor do they keep their role as exclusive gatekeepers for news. And many readers find that algorithms do a better job of selecting news than human editors. For a new report on the state of the journalism profession in the UK in the 2020s, my colleagues and I asked journalists what they think their role in society should be today. Facing a world of rising authoritarianism, war in...

April 22, 2025 - Source: The Copenhagen Post -  “I reported on corruption. Now I’m paying the price,” Azerbaijani journalist Avaz Zeynalli, editor-in-chief of Xural, tells us from behind bars. Thousands of kilometers away in Denmark, Bernardo Basillici Menini, the editor-in-chief of The Copenhagen Post, reflects on a very different reality: “Here, journalism doesn’t need to fight to be heard.” These aren’t just personal anecdotes—they point to something deeper and measurable. Our research explores the connection between press freedom and corruption, using both the Press Freedom Index and the Corruption Perception Index across ten years of global...

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), at least 165 Palestinian journalists have been killed since the Israel-Hamas war began in October 2023. In fact, according to CPJ, last year was the deadliest year for journalists worldwide since they began documenting deaths in 1992. Gathering aerial footage of Gaza is a dangerous task, and Bellingcat along with our partners at Forbidden Stories, Le Monde, Die Zeit, Der Standard, Paper Trail Media, Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ) and RFI identified several cases where drone journalists were killed or injured shortly after capturing aerial images. The...

“Protecting those who inform us is protecting the truth.” – Thibaut Bruttin, Reporters Without Borders’ Director General According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 114 journalists were killed in 2024, the majority through crossfire, dangerous assignments, and murder. As of December 2024, 361 journalists are imprisoned worldwide. International humanitarian law distinguishes journalists and war correspondents when delegating protections to media workers. War correspondents accompany the armed forces of a state and are entitled to prisoner-of-war status upon capture, according to the Third Geneva Convention. Under Article 82 of the convention, it states that “no prisoner of war may be tried...

April 21, 2025 - Source: Mission Local -  In the last month, Luz Mely Reyes, a reporter at the International Center for Journalists, has been advised to avoid international travel, close her social media account, and scrub information from her phone. It’s the same advice that she used to follow before she moved to the United States in 2020 — back in the days when she was living in her home country of Venezuela, covering human rights and politics. Now, it’s becoming the new normal Stateside. “Some people are very worried about the consequences of speaking up...

Legally, know your rights According to UN declarations, the legal protection of journalists at work in conflict zones is adequate in theory, but it is not respected in reality. According to IFEX, in nine out of ten cases of journalist murder, the perpetrators of these crimes are never prosecuted, although targeting journalists based on their social function should be regarded as an aggravating circumstance. FPU fight against impunity   International mechanisms Although UNESCO adopted the UN Plan of Action on Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity in April 2012, data show that unless governments are willing...

Journalists are continually subject to harm or the threat of harm during their reporting in foreign wars. The US based Committee to Protect Journalists states that at least 24 journalists have been murdered in 2022 so far globally. The surge in armed groups such as Islamic State and Al Qaeda after September 11, 2001, have also led to the increased targeting of war correspondents with corresponding unsafe conditions. Journalist for the Wall Street Journal Daniel Pearl was beheaded whilst reporting on the deteriorating situation in Pakistan in 2002. Many media staff have also been deliberately targeted. According to...

I. Protection of Journalists and Media Professionals in Time of Armed Conflict The number of journalists killed in the world in 2003 – 42 – is the highest since 1995. This figure can be largely explained by the recent military campaign in Iraq, which inflicted a proportionally higher number of casualties on journalists than on members of the coalition’s armed forces: 14 journalists and media personnel lost their lives, two went missing and a dozen or so were wounded while covering the conflict and its aftermath. In recent years, one might also mention the deliberate...

April 18, 2025 - Source: Counter Punch -  Recall those feverish days leading up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq when Colin Powell presented his dubious evidence to the United Nations Security Council, claiming Saddam Hussein possessed WMDs. The result of those bogus lies was The Iraq Resolution, which authorized the use of force against the sovereign state, and passed the Senate by a decisive 77-23 margin, with only 23 dissenting votes. Support crossed party lines as Hillary Clinton and many other prominent Democrats consistently reached into George W. Bush’s basket of lies, repeating the neocons’ WMD propaganda. The New York Times, fulfilling...

April 18, 2025 - Source: Freedom of the Press Foundation -  A series to spotlight public-records-based local journalism A major reason why politicians are able to attack the press without much resistance is that the public distrusts the media. And one of the reasons for that distrust is that when people think “journalist,” they often think of partisan cable news pundits rather than the thousands of local investigative reporters serving communities across the country. We’re hoping to play a small part in changing that by profiling local journalists who use public records laws to hold...

A stated policy goal of the Trump administration is to significantly change U.S. travel and immigration policies. Foreign nationals whose countries do not meet U.S. vetting standards may be barred entry. Journalists will not be exempt and should anticipate potential restrictions or questioning when traveling to or from the United States. Under a draft Trump administration proposal, more than 40 countries, including Iran, Russia, Venezuela, and several African countries, are being considered for full or partially restricted travel to the U.S. The policy is based on a travel ban Trump enacted during his first term, which the Supreme Court upheld. Whilst the...

Journalists from all over the world gathered again this year at the International Journalism Festival in Perugia to discuss some of the news industry's most crucial issues in a time of upheaval. The Reuters Institute's editorial team curated some of the festival's highlights in this piece. You'll find cool projects, several takeaways and quotes that made us think – but not the name of the person who was in everyone's minds. We'll keep updating the article in the next few days.   Stuff we learnt 1. Everyone is building AI summaries. But those doing it...

The Council of Europe’s interactive charts page offers a visual representation of the data collected under the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM). This tool allows users to explore how different European countries are implementing the rights and protections of national minorities. Key features include: Interactive Visuals: Graphs and charts display country-by-country comparisons on various minority rights issues. Topics Covered: Education in minority languages, media access, anti-discrimination policies, cultural participation, and political representation. Comparative Analysis: Users can compare how different countries have implemented recommendations made by the Advisory Committee of the FCNM....

April 10, 2025 - Source: Monitor -  This update covers developments relating to the freedoms of expression, association and assembly in Haiti from 15th October 2024 to 31st March 2025. On 4th December 2024, Haiti was labeled a “country of concern” in our yearly People Power Under Attack report. GENERAL Haiti continues to face deep political, security and humanitarian crises, and the chaos caused by gang violence continues. On 27th March 2025, former Jamaican Prime Minister and member of the CARICOM Eminent Persons Group trying to mediate in the Haitian political crisis, warned that Haiti was “perilously close” to being...

Nick Turse’s report explores the growing dangers faced by journalists covering war and conflict. It highlights how both governments and armed groups use threats, censorship, and violence to suppress reporting. Conflict zones have become increasingly deadly, especially for local journalists who often lack protection and resources. The report points to a sharp rise in journalist deaths, particularly in recent conflicts, where hundreds have been killed. As the number of foreign correspondents declines, local reporters are taking more risks to fill the gap, often without proper support. This decline in safe, accurate, and independent reporting not...

April 08, 2025 - Source: Global Investigative Journalism Network Moroccan journalist Soulaimane Raissouni was arrested outside his home in Rabat, Morocco’s capital city, in May 2020. The editor-in-chief of the newspaper Akhbar Al Yaoum had long been a thorn in the side of the Moroccan authorities, publishing investigations into corruption and state repression — such as a salary bonuses scandal involving the country’s finance minister and the treasurer general. “We are under attack, but we are not defeated. Journalism is evolving, and we will find ways to keep telling the stories that matter.” — Walid Mejri, Alqatiba...

April 07, 2025 - Source: Global Investigative Journalism Network -  In his influential book on tyranny and authoritarianism published at the dawn of the 20th century, the prominent Syrian intellectual Abdul Rahman Al-Kawakibi wrote: “A tyrannical government is oppressive in all its branches, from the supreme despot to the policeman, the servant, and even the street sweeper.” “We can’t afford loopholes in our reporting. We can’t afford sensationalism. We cannot afford mistakes.” — Lina Attalah, editor-in-chief of the Egyptian investigative journalism site Mada MasrAl-Kawakibi was notable for being openly critical of the political establishment of the era...

April 05, 2025 - Source: Kashmir Times -  “It takes a very long time for an imprisoned journalist to be back to normal life even after being released,” says Fahad Shah, a Kashmiri journalist and the founder of the now-banned Kashmir Walla News outlet. Shah was arrested on 4 February 2022 and released on 23 November 2023 after a court order but after spending more than 650 days in different jails, facing numerous cases, including the Public Safety Act (PSA) of 1978, allowing for detention without charge for up to two years. His release on bail was a long-drawn ordeal. Slapped with charges...