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Russia’s War on the Press

  • Women Press Freedom

Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, the Russian regime has targeted journalists on the frontlines with deliberate attacks, leading to numerous deaths and injuries among women reporters. This campaign of terror aims to suppress independent reporting and obscure the realities of the conflict.

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Is Civil Society Still Alive in Russia?

  • Stockholm Centre for Eastern European Studies
  • Stefan Ingvarsson, Ekaterina Kalinina

This report challenges the claims that there is no civil society to speak of inside the Russian Federation and that most of its activists are now in exile. A significant number of independent and democratically oriented initiatives and organizations continue to operate throughout the country to address societal issues through civic engagement. These should be acknowledged.

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Independent Media Are the Primary Targets of Kremlin Laws

  • RSF

A third of the victims of Russia’s “foreign agents” law are independent media, which makes them the primary target of this legislation — and highlights their systematic legal persecution. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has analysed the Ministry of Justice’s blacklists of “foreign agents” and “undesirable organisations” – which are used as tools of censorship – and condemns the stigmatisation of independent media as a fifth column.

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What’s Next for Investigative Journalism in Latin America

  • IJNet
  • Andrea Arzaba, Ana Beatriz Assam

The investigative beat has never been an easy one in Latin America. From reporting under authoritarian regimes to confronting significant security risks in a region that faces the added challenge of impunity, and from the difficulties of reporting amidst persistent financial struggles to handling the backlash that comes with exposing acts of corruption — the circumstances facing reporters have long been challenging.

Military Censorship in Russia

  • Reporter ohne Grenzen

The legal basis for combating independent media and media professionals in Russia emerged in the 2010s. In the 2020s, the state significantly expanded its options for repression. Media outlets and individuals were declared foreign agents and the number of cases against media professionals based on extremism paragraphs increased. This report provides an overview of the latest developments.

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No Protection in Exile

  • Reporter ohne Grenzen

According to a survey of Russian media professionals in exile, most of them do not live in the EU but in other countries (Georgia, Armenia, Central Asia, Serbia, etc.) despite the high risks due to a lack of legal options and insufficient financial resources. On behalf of RSF, the Russian human rights organization Mass Media Defence Center has prepared an analysis of the situation of independent journalists from Russia in exile.

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On the Run

    Thousands of journalists around the world have had to seek exile in other countries in recent years amidst rising political repression, an independent United Nations investigator, Irene Khan, told the global body’s General Assembly in a report last week. Ms Khan’s findings shine a worrying light on the state of the world that all countries, especially democracies, need to reflect on and address.

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    Against All Odds

    • JX Fund

    Exiled journalists are fighting to maintain independent reporting from and in their countries of origin. On this years’ International Press Freedom Day, the JX Fund provides an insight into the exiled media scenes from Afghanistan, Belarus and Russia.

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    A Brief History of Judiciary’s War on Journalism in Russia and Turkey

    • Journalisten und Anwälte für Meinungsfreiheit (JAM) e.V.
    • Asuman Aranca, Evin Barış Altıntaş et al.

    Defenses of independent journalists against authoritarian or malign regimes remain weak across the world. Russia and Turkey – united in not just the increasingly authoritarian way they are ruled but also in their “in-betweenness” have been no exception in this regard.

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    Afghanistan’s Media Crisis

    • JSK Fellows
    • Faisal Karimi

    The journalism landscape in Afghanistan has undergone a significant and distressing transformation following the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan and the return of the Taliban to power in August 2021.

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