In Focus

Instead of providing the latest news updates, the homepages of three leading Tanzanian newspapers are focused on their own suspension over a video seen as critical of the president, as concerns mount over deteriorating press freedom ahead of elections. On October 2, the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) issued a 30-day suspension order for Mwananchi…

CPJ is alarmed by reports that since mid-September, Cuban state security agents questioned at least eight journalists and media workers from non-state media outlets, many in connection to alleged crimes against the state, leading several to flee the country.  “The Cuban government appears to be engaged in a campaign of harassment and intimidation against the…

Despite recent reforms to Nigeria’s Cybercrimes Act, journalists continue to be targeted for publishing news in the public interest, with four reporters being charged under the law last month. Cybercrime laws and other regulations governing online content have been widely used to jail journalists around the world. In Nigeria, at least 29 journalists have faced…

After a month of seeing an empty television studio with the word “censored” splashed across the screen, Cameroonians are finally able to watch Équinoxe TV’s flagship Sunday politics show “Droit de Réponse” again. The privately owned station fell foul of Cameroon’s regulatory National Communication Council (NCC), which judged it to have harmed the reputations of…

Russian authorities have deployed laws penalizing “foreign agents,” “undesirable” organizations, and those who “discredit” the army to issue fines against 11 journalists, at least five of whom live in exile, and to retaliate against two media outlets in the last two months. The latest figures show that Russia’s crackdown has continued apace since CPJ’s previous…

At least four Bangladeshi journalists who produced coverage seen as supportive of recently ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League party remain detained following the establishment of an interim government in August. “CPJ is alarmed by the apparently baseless criminal cases lodged against Bangladeshi journalists in retaliation for their work, which is seen…

Editor’s note: On October 31, Belgrade Higher Court released Gnyot from house arrest after the expiration of the one-year legal term for detention. Gnyot left for an unspecified European country on the same day, RFE/RL reported. Belarusian filmmaker Andrey Gnyot is stuck in a legal limbo after a Serbian appeals court announced on September 11 that it had sent his extradition case…

Amid political tension in Guinea-Bissau following President Umaro Sissoco Embaló’s dissolution of parliament in December, it was only natural for radio journalist Ussumane Mané to ask the West African leader a question that was on everyone’s lips: will there be a presidential election this year? Embaló, a former army general who came to power on…

Zambian journalist Thomas Allan Zgambo is facing up to seven years in prison for his reporting on corruption and poor governance in the southern African nation. It is at least the third time that Zgambo has risked imprisonment for his online journalism, a growing threat for journalists in many African countries. On August 6, Zgambo was arrested on…

Cameroonian journalist Samuel Bondjock has had to appear in court more than 30 times in almost 30 months to face criminal defamation charges that could put him in jail — even though the country’s media regulator dismissed the complaint against him in 2022. His next appearance in the capital Yaounde is scheduled for August 27,…