In Focus

Ugandan journalist Ssematimba Bwegiire lost consciousness immediately after a security officer electrocuted him with a stun gun and pepper-sprayed him in the mouth. But he did not report the incident, reflecting widespread disillusionment among the media about authorities’ commitment to press freedom in elections on January 15. Bwegiire, a reporter with privately owned Radio Simba,…

Iranian authorities have imposed a near-total internet shutdown as nationwide protests intensify, severely restricting journalists’ ability to report and cutting off communication with the outside world. The blackout began on January 8, more than a week after protests erupted in late December over mounting economic pressure, currency devaluation, and rising living costs. Journalists and rights…

Since President Kais Saied’s consolidation of power in 2021, Tunisia’s press freedom landscape has narrowed sharply. A single piece of legislation—Decree-Law No. 2022-54 on combating “crimes related to information and communication systems”—has become the legal hammer used to silence critics, criminalize routine reporting, and imprison at least five journalists.  The release of lawyer and commentator…

Since what human rights groups and UN experts agree is a genocide in Gaza began in October 2023, the Committee to Protect Journalists has worked relentlessly to sustain the journalists documenting the deadliest war for the press ever recorded. CPJ has spent more than $500,000 to provide both humanitarian and professional assistance to Gaza’s press corps…

At least three journalists in Nigeria have been detained since August on allegations of violating the country’s Cybercrime Act, despite last year’s reform of the law, highlighting its ongoing use to harass the media. One journalist, known under the pen name Fejiro Oliver, has been behind bars since mid-September. “Nigerian authorities appear stuck in an…

The Swazi Bridge news site in Eswatini is facing a record-breaking claim for 170 million emalangeni (US$9.8 million) in damages and the threat of terrorism investigations, as part of a growing global trend of using abusive lawsuits to suppress public interest reporting. The Farmers Bank and its director John Asfar alleged defamation by the privately…

Israeli police banned at least 10 Palestinian journalists from Jerusalem’s disputed Al-Aqsa Mosque compound during Ramadan this year, CPJ has found, in what many view as a deliberate effort to censor coverage of the holy site. Intimidatory tactics against the press have increased in the two years since the start of the Israel-Gaza war, journalists…

As paramilitary forces seized control of Sudan’s El-Fasher in late October, its journalists have become both witnesses and victims of the unfolding horrors.  The Committee to Protect Journalists has received reports from several rights groups that 13 journalists and media workers in the North Darfur capital — among the last sources of independent information from…

As a fragile ceasefire pushes through a second week, Palestinian journalists in the West Bank and Gaza still face immense risks. Despite a pause in large-scale fighting, attacks, detention and threats to press freedom persist. While seven journalists were released as part of the ceasefire that began on October 10, the Committee to Protect Journalists…

Serbian journalists have increasingly reported being deliberately targeted by police, especially when covering police violence, as President Aleksandar Vučić’s authoritarian government toughens its stance against anti-government protests that began 10 months ago with a deadly railway station collapse. Journalists caught up in the unrest report that police not only fail to protect them from protesters but also deliberately harass, beat, and detain them,…