After nearly a year in prison, Venezuelan journalist Rory Branker is finally free. But he has yet to liberate himself from what legal experts and press freedom groups describe as trumped-up criminal charges that are hanging over his head. After the U.S. military ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January, Branker was one of more than two dozen journalists to be […]
New York, May 12, 2026 — For years, Tunisia was viewed as one of the few post-Arab Spring success stories for press freedom in the region. In the decade following the 2011 revolution, journalists gained greater space to investigate corruption, criticize authorities, and report more openly than anywhere else in North Africa. Those gains, while […]
On April 11, 1999, Slavko Ćuruvija, the owner of Serbia’s first private daily newspaper, Dnevni Telegraf, was assassinated outside his home in the capital, Belgrade. After a decades-long pursuit of accountability, the case reached a turning point in February 2024 when the Belgrade Court of Appeal issued a final, non-appealable acquittal for four former Slobodan Milošević-era state […]
A key Senegalese rebel leader, César Atoute Badiate, has broken his silence on jailed journalist René Capain Bassène, refuting the prosecution’s claim that Bassène was a militant fighting for independence of the Casamance region who incited him to murder 14 illegal loggers in 2018. “René Capain Bassène is neither an MFDC representative nor a leader […]
Lusaka, April 22, 2026—For months, lawyer Josiah Kalala has been working late into the night on a case he believes could define the future of press freedom in Zambia: preparing arguments, reviewing legal provisions, and consulting colleagues. Kalala, who heads Chapter One Foundation, a local human rights group, hopes that the hundreds of hours he […]
Indian journalists Soma Maity and Ranjit Mahato had been at the protest for a matter of minutes before they were attacked by a mob on January 16. Maity said she was grabbed and lifted by two men, who pulled her hair, restrained her legs, and tore at her clothes while others touched her body. She […]
Sharmelí Bustíos Patiño was only 14 when her father, 38-year-old Peruvian journalist Hugo Bustíos Saavedra, was killed on November 24, 1988, while covering the war between the Peruvian army and leftist Shining Path guerrillas in a violent ambush near the town of Huanta. After nearly four decades of fighting to find her father’s killer, Sharmelí found justice in […]
The Committee to Protect Journalists is monitoring the impact of the current military escalation between Israel, the U.S and Iran and its spillover across the Middle East on journalists and media workers. Since the Iran war broke out on February 28, when the U.S and Israel launched strikes on Iran and Tehran retaliated with attacks […]
Nairobi, February 26, 2026—Journalist Peter Maseke Mwita has a keener interest than most in Friday’s upcoming ruling on the constitutionality of Kenya’s cybercrime law — legislation that could see him jailed for up to 10 years over a mistaken WhatsApp message. On February 27, a three-judge court of appeal bench is due to rule in […]
Key findings More journalists and media workers were killed in 2025 than in any other year since the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) began collecting data more than three decades ago. This is the second consecutive year-on-year record for press deaths. Israel was responsible for two-thirds of all press killings in both 2025 and 2024. […]
