Reporters Without Borders (RSF)

According to the Reporters Without Borders tally, a total of 28 journalists and media workers have been killed in connection with their work in Honduras since 2000. The three latest murders are likely to join the list.

Thanks to WikiLeaks, Reporters Without Borders is able to expose how Saudi Arabia’s government, which has suppressed all media freedom domestically, tries to co-opt foreign media outlets in order to project a positive image of the kingdom internationally.

Under a new bill, journalists will face severe penalties if they do not limit themselves to official sources in their coverage of armed attacks and bombings by rebel groups.

Israeli troops deliberately fired teargas at two Palestinians journalists with Jordan’s Ro’ya TV while they were covering a peaceful Palestinian demonstration held to mark the first anniversary of the death of Mohamed Abou Khdeir, a 16-year-old Palestinian who was murdered.

The first half of 2015 has been arduous for journalists in the Dominican Republic, with physical attacks, threats, prosecutions and a murder.

Repeated DAS threats to journalist Claudia Duque and her family began in 2001 after her investigative reporting shed light on the involvement of the intelligence services in journalist Jaime Garzón’s murder in Bogotá in 1999.

RWB condemns the arbitrary arrest of Yang Dongying, the latest victim of the Chinese government’s systematic persecution of citizen-journalists working for 64Tianwang, a news website run by the cyber-dissident Huang Qi.

RSF hails the policy improvements, including provisions for involving the families more and the possibility of negotiating with hostage-takers, but says the US authorities must now demonstrate that they are equal to the hopes raised by the announcement.