CPJ: Kyrgyz president must veto ‘dangerous’ media law
UPDATE: On August 6, President Sadyr Japarov signed the media law into effect. New York, July 2, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists urges Kyrgyzstan President Sadyr Japarov to veto a new mass media law that would require all publications to register with the state and heavily restricts any foreign legal entities from founding or owning media outlets. Parliament…
Satirical Turkish weekly LeMan targeted over ‘Muhammad’ cartoon
Istanbul, July 1, 2025—Turkish authorities must release from custody four staff members of the leftist satirical weekly LeMan and ensure their safety, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. Police raided the Istanbul offices of LeMan Monday evening and detained the staff members after the publication of what officials claimed was a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad, a depiction that is forbidden in…
Georgia increasingly blocks entry to Western journalists amid authoritarian turn
New York, July 1, 2025—When British investigative journalist Will Neal was turned back at Georgia’s border with Armenia in May, he became the fifth of at least six European journalists in recent months to be denied entry into a country once seen as a regional leader for press freedom. Neal, who had lived in Georgia since 2022,…
Journalist arrested, accused of threatening Turkish president
Istanbul, June 24, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Turkish authorities to immediately release journalist Fatih Altaylı following his June 22 arrest and imprisonment on accusations of threatening Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in connection with his commentary on a public poll. “Fatih Altaylı’s arrest is a blatant attempt to intimidate an influential commentator into self-censorship,” said Özgür Öğret, CPJ’s…
Russia and Belarus release 2 journalists who had been detained for years
Paris, June 23, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release of Ukrainian journalist Vladislav Yesypenko and Belarusian journalist Ihar Karnei, who had been unjustly detained for years by Russia and Belarus, respectively. Russia freed Yesypenko on June 20 after he served a five-year prison sentence on charges of possessing and transporting explosives, which he denied. Karnei, detained for nearly two…
8 journalists given lengthy jail terms as Azerbaijan crushes free press
New York, June 23, 2025— Eight Azerbaijani journalists have received prison sentences ranging from 7 ½ to 15 years, as part of an ongoing series of media trials likely to obliterate independent reporting in the Caucasus nation. In a closed-door trial on Monday, columnist and peace activist Bahruz Samadov was sentenced by a court in…
CPJ, partners call for an end to Georgia’s assault on media, repeal of new laws
The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 23 other press freedom and journalist organizations on June 17 in condemning Georgia’s deepening restrictions on the media, including several repressive new laws, and calling on the international community to pressure the ruling Georgian Dream party to end its suppression of the independent press. The statement warned that independent…
CPJ, partners welcome 2 convictions for Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder
The Committee to Protect Journalists and four other international media freedom organizations welcomed Thursday’s conviction of Robert Agius and Jamie Vella for supplying military-grade explosives to the hitmen who murdered Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia with a car bomb. The two men, part of a Maltese criminal gang, are due to be sentenced in…
Alarming escalation in attacks on journalists amid political crisis in Serbia
Berlin, June 3, 2025—What journalists called a “witch hunt” atmosphere against government critics in Serbia one year ago has since escalated into a rise in attacks and threats against the press, following a deadly railway station collapse in November 2024 that triggered a widespread anti-corruption movement. Initial protests demanding accountability for the tragedy have turned…
Georgia media face fewer ‘ways to survive’ amid foreign funding crackdown
A punishing spate of laws targeting foreign-funded media will dramatically curb Georgia’s independent voices and force many news outlets to shutter or shift their business operations, say Georgian journalists and press freedom advocates. Georgia’s populist ruling Georgian Dream party has pushed through its new Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA)—called an “exact copy” of the U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act— granting…