In Focus

  
A mural of slain of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh on a wall in Gaza City in 2022.

Documentary names soldier it says killed Shireen Abu Akleh in 2022

As the third anniversary of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh’s murder nears, a documentary offering new evidence about her killing highlights the failure of American and international authorities in investigating the case and securing justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. The documentary “Who Killed Shireen?”, produced by U.S.-based media company Zeteo, claims to…

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A soldier from the Transnistria breakaway reagion of Moldova records the presence of the media at the Varnita crossing point with Moldova, on March 1, 2024. (Photo: AFP/Daniel Mihailescu)

Amid tensions, Moldova’s Transnistria seeks to further limit journalist access

Moldova’s unrecognized Moscow-backed breakaway state of Transnistria is considering legislation that could add to an increasingly hostile atmosphere for media there, the Committee to Protect Journalists said. Journalists in Moldova and its breakaway republic have faced a slew of challenges this year, including detentions, violence and online harassment as tensions rise between pro-Russian factions and…

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protestor

Journalists in Turkey arrested, beaten, deported amid government crackdown on opposition

In the weeks since the March 19 detention of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, a potential challenger to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the next presidential race, along with other members of the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), civil unrest has erupted in western Turkey. The government, controlled by Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP),…

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Troubling crackdown on Ugandan journalists ahead of 2026 elections

After two weeks of attacks by masked anti-terrorism agents, police, and soldiers on Ugandan journalists covering an upcoming by-election, voting day proved even worse — forcing three major media houses to pull their reporters from the day’s top story. “We have taken the difficult decision to temporarily withdraw our @Daily Monitor @ntvuganda journalists from covering…

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Blessed Mhlanga

Zimbabwe seeks to stifle political debate with jail, threats, legislation

“I have learnt that free speech, free talk, is not free,” Zimbabwean journalist Blessed Mhlanga wrote in a letter from prison, which was made public on February 28, his fourth day behind bars. Mhlanga, who works with the privately owned broadcaster Heart and Soul TV, was arrested on February 24 and charged with incitement for covering…

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Al Jazeera camera operator Ryad Alhussein holds a makeshift tourniquet around his right thigh after being shot while covering clashes near Jableh on Syria’s west coast on March 6, 2025.

In Syria, 3 news crews shot at, assaulted while covering deadly clashes

The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by multiple attacks on journalists reporting on Syria’s worst clashes since the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad, including bullets being fired at two news teams’ cars, with one journalist shot in the leg, and the assault and detention of a third crew.  “We are appalled by the violence meted out…

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Muhammad Yunus, head of Bangladesh's interim government, speaks to members of the media at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit on November 13, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (Photo: AP/Sergei Grits)

Bangladesh journalists face threats from attacks, investigations, and looming cyber laws

Six months after a mass uprising ousted the increasingly autocratic administration of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladeshi journalists continue to be threatened and attacked for their work, along with facing new fears that planned legislation could undermine press freedom. Bangladesh’s interim government — established amid high hopes of political and economic reform— has drawn…

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Slemani News Network camera operator Sivar Baban struggles to breathe after being teargassed during a Kurdistan teachers’ protest on February 9.

Dozens of Iraqi Kurdistan journalists teargassed, arrested, raided over protest

The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by Kurdistan security forces’ assault on 12 news crews covering a February 9 protest by teachers and other public employees over unpaid salaries, which resulted in at least 22 journalists teargassed, two arrested, and a television station raided. “The aggressive treatment meted out to journalists by Erbil security…

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Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks with journalist Pavel Zarubin after his annual televised year-end press conference and phone-in held in Moscow, Russia, December 19, 2024.

Russia preps to block income of ‘foreign agent’ journalists

After a year that saw Russia increase its pressure on independent media and journalists, authorities are seeking to tighten the squeeze on dissenting voices from March 1 by blocking those designated as “foreign agents’” from access to their earnings. The 2025 law requires those listed by the justice ministry as “persons under foreign influence” to…

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Georgian journalists assaulted, obstructed while covering renewed protests

In Georgia, resurgent protests demanding new elections have been met with a violent police crackdown in which authorities forcefully obstructed or assaulted more than a dozen journalists covering the demonstrations. Protests against the Georgian Dream party’s disputed October election victory and the November suspension of European Union accession talks had diminished in scale in the…

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