Reporters Without Borders (RSF)

With less than a year to go to presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkey, media and journalists are being threatened by ultra-nationalist politicians.

The calculated paralysis of Burkina Faso’s media regulator, the Superior Council for Communication (CSC), is a contributing factor to increasing attacks on the media and the continuing decline in quality journalism.

Detained since 2018 for his reporting on land disputes and corruption, citizen journalist Do Cong Duong died on 2 August. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) sounds the alarm about the situation of the 40 other journalists and bloggers currently detained in Vietnam.

‘The Shift News’ faces an all-out legal battle against 40 freedom of information lawsuits brought by 40 government entities in Malta. These appeal lawsuits pose a serious threat to the country’s already worrying freedom of information and press freedom climate, and should be dropped.

The prime minister’s close adviser (and nephew) has launched a lawsuit against two media outlets over articles concerning alleged illegal surveillance of the press by the government. Journalist Thanasis Koukakis, a target of this surveillance, is also being sued for tweeting about the articles’ revelations.

In the last three years, ‘Star TV’ journalist Giorgos Karaivaz was shot dead, ‘Documento’ editor Kostas Vaxevanis reportedly had a contract put on his head, and ‘Makelio’ editor Stefanos Chios was shot at and wounded.

No one has been arrested for Lokman Slim’s murder and around 20 other Lebanese journalists still face threats for their work.

“The judicial investigation launched by the ‘cyber’ section at the Paris prosecutor’s office on 1 July is the result of a series of complaints filed over the past year, above all by RSF which – together with 25 journalists from ten countries – filed a total of four complaints.”