In Focus

  
Journalists (left to right) Alejandro Leyva Aguilar,Alex Serna, Carlos Castro, Josué Martínez, Luis Ángel López, and Roxana Guzmán were killed in Mexico this year. (Image: CPJ)

Amid spike in journalist killings in Mexico, CPJ urges federalizing cases to end impunity

Six journalists have been murdered in Mexico this year, five of them in just over two months, marking one of the deadliest spikes in violence against journalists that CPJ has documented in over a decade. Despite several organized calls for justice in the Mexican states where the reporters were killed, government authorities have not addressed…

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Subpoenas were issued in July to several New York Times journalists requesting that they testify “in regard to an alleged violation of federal criminal law” around their reporting on President Trump’s new Qatari-donated Air Force One. (Photo: Reuters/Gary Hershorn)

How subpoenas against journalists threaten press freedom

Journalists rely on confidential sources to uncover information that governments, corporations, and powerful individuals often want to keep hidden. When authorities subpoena journalists in attempts to compel them to reveal their reporting sources, they undermine one of the core functions of a free press in a democracy. The U.S. Department of Justice under the second…

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Hungary’s initial media reforms are promising but lasting safeguards still needed

Hungary’s new government has taken promising first steps to restore press freedom after years of state capture under former prime minister Viktor Orbán, but authorities must now move beyond quick fixes to deliver transparent, durable reforms that ensure the media is protected from any and all political interference. After his Tisza party won a  landslide…

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A displaced Congolese man listens to the radio outside his shelter in Fizi territory of South Kivu province in January.

In eastern DRC, journalists face death, arson threats for reporting on war

Government-allied Wazalendo militiamen have threatened to kill or capture one reporter and to burn down another’s radio station because of unfavorable coverage, as frontlines shift under diplomatic pressure for peace in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Rwanda-backed M23 and Congo River Alliance (AFC) rebels — who made unprecedented territorial gains in early 2025…

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Daphne Caruana Galizia

Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder: Landmark trial puts Malta’s press freedom back in spotlight

More than eight years after the assassination of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia sent shockwaves through Europe, all eyes are once again on the capital Valletta, where the alleged mastermind of her murder has been on trial since July 1.  Yorgen Fenech, a powerful businessman, is standing trial on a charge of complicity in murder…

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The high price journalists paid for LGBTQ+ reporting, and how to protect yourself now

As LGBTQ+ communities celebrate Pride this June, many journalists continue to face an ugly reality: simply reporting on this community can open them up to prosecution, physical attacks, threats, arrest, exile, and even death.  Avijit Roy, a Bangladeshi-born American who blogged about LGBTQ+ rights and free expression, was stabbed to death alongside his wife after…

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100 days on: CPJ urges Bangladesh’s Tarique Rahman to break the cycle of press repression

After 100 days in office, Prime Minister Tarique Rahman must start living up to his election manifesto pledge of protecting press freedom by breaking the cycle of partisan persecution of journalists in Bangladesh, the Committee to Protect Journalists said. Bangladesh has had three governments in under two years: the administration of long-time leader Sheikh Hasina’s…

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President Bola Tinubu waves during his swearing-in ceremony in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, on May 29, 2023.

Tracking Tinubu’s tenure: CPJ exposes Nigeria’s media repression reality

In the three years since Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu assumed office on May 29, 2023, journalists have been repeatedly arrested, attacked, and harassed — yet, the government has sought to deny this reality. Vice President Kashim Shettima suggested in February that no journalists have been harassed in Nigeria since Tinubu took office, despite extensive…

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Government soldiers patrol a road in Fizi Territory in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo in January 2026.

Drones strike radio station in rebel-held DRC, with threat to kill next time

The eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo has joined a growing number of conflicts where drones are being used to target journalists, as two strikes hit a community radio station, followed by calls and messages threatening further attacks over its reporting on militia abuses. The bombing of Radio Tuungane in South Kivu province’s rebel-controlled Minembwe…

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Markwayne Mullin stands listening to U.S. President Donald Trump as he attends his swearing-in as Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary, at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 24, 2026. REUTERS/Evan Vucci

How the Trump administration is using immigration authorities to restrict speech 

During President Donald Trump’s second term, immigration authorities under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have increasingly used their powers to curb independent and critical reporting.  Here are four things you need to know about how immigration agencies have participated in restricting press freedom in the United States:   See CPJ’s first-ever travel advisory for journalists entering and…

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