News

January 11, 2026 - Afghanistan - The Afghanistan Media Support Organization (AMSO) has condemned the recent arrest of Nazera Rashidi, a female journalist in Kunduz Province, who was detained by Taliban authorities earlier in January 2026 and transferred to an undisclosed location, calling for her immediate and unconditional release and urging respect for legal rights and the safety of female journalists. AMSO highlighted that Rashidi, who supports her underage siblings, has not been accused of any criminal activity, and that her detention reflects widening restrictions on press freedom under Taliban rule. In a separate statement,...

January 11, 2026 - Palestine - Israeli occupation forces briefly detained journalists and medics and abducted other residents following a raid on the Old City of Nablus that began in the early hours of Sunday morning, according to Palestinian security sources. The sources told WAFA that Israeli forces are currently surrounding journalists inside the al-Yasmina neighborhood while they were covering the ongoing incursion, which involved the use of live ammunition and the sealing off of the Old City. Ghassan Hamdan, director of the Medical Relief Society in Nablus, told WAFA that Israeli forces fired directly...

January 10, 2026 - Mexico - A crime reporter identified as Carlos Castro, director of the online news outlet Código Norte Veracruz, was shot and killed in Poza Rica in the eastern Mexican state of Veracruz, in an attack that underscores the continuing peril faced by journalists covering crime and corruption in Mexico. Castro, who had recently returned to Poza Rica after previously fleeing the city due to credible threats, was fatally shot at a restaurant late on January 8, 2026, state authorities and press freedom organizations reported. The State Commission for the Attention and...

January 10, 2026 - Pakistan - Journalist Muhammad Aslam Shah has been sent to prison on judicial remand in Karachi after his arrest under Pakistan’s controversial Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) 2025, local media outlets report, sparking renewed concerns about press freedom and the use of cybercrime legislation against journalists. Shah’s detention and remand follow a case registered on 29 December 2025 after a First Information Report (FIR) was filed by Tabish Raza Husnain, described as an official of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation (KWSC), alleging defamation and cyberstalking offences against him and...

January 10, 2026 - Slovakia - A prominent Slovak journalist, Peter Schutz (70), was violently attacked by an unknown assailant on the afternoon of January 10, 2026, at a shopping centre in eastern Slovakia, according to initial reports. The assault, widely condemned by media organisations, raised immediate concerns about journalist safety and political rhetoric in the country. At least two Slovak government ministers responded publicly to the attack not by focusing solely on violence against the press but by criticising Schutz’s published commentary and suggesting his writings contributed to tensions, prompting criticism from press freedom...

January 10, 2026 - Turkey - Türkiye marked Working Journalists’ Day on January 10, 2026, with nationwide recognition of the role and risks of journalism, paying special tribute to media professionals who have lost their lives in the line of duty, particularly those reporting from the Gaza conflict zone. The annual observance also celebrates the 1961 law that introduced enhanced labour rights for journalists in Türkiye, including job security and fair wages. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met with journalists in Istanbul’s Beyoğlu district, greeting members of the press and extending congratulations on the occasion. He...

January 09, 2026 - Syria - At least four media workers were wounded in a mortar attack attributed to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, according to regional media and security sources. The attack struck the Ashrafieh district on the city’s western outskirts on January 8, 2026, amid heightened tensions and shifting military deployments in the area. Reports said the media workers were covering developments linked to security movements following the partial withdrawal of SDF elements from positions around Aleppo when the shells landed. Syrian state media cited internal...

January 09, 2026 - Turkey - In Aydın Province, Türkiye, a confrontation between local figures escalated into violence on January 9, 2026, when Durmuş Tuna, the owner of a local internet news site, was shot in the leg during a dispute with Hüseyin Kaya, who serves as the provincial chairman of the New Welfare Party (Yeniden Refah Partisi). The altercation reportedly took place in the Söke district’s Konak neighborhood, where the two men argued over undisclosed issues before Kaya fired his weapon, injuring Tuna. Local authorities responded swiftly, with emergency services transporting the wounded website...

January 07, 2026 - Nigeria -  A veteran Nigerian photojournalist, Malam Umar Usman Iyale, has been kidnapped by suspected bandits in the Danhonu II community of Millennium City, located in the Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State, according to security and community sources. The Kaduna State Police Command confirmed the abduction on January 5, 2026, saying operatives have been deployed to locate and rescue him unharmed. Police spokesperson DSP Mansir Hassan stated that the journalist was seized by gunmen from his home around 9:00 pm on Monday, with the assailants carrying out the operation...

January 07, 2025 - Palestine - An international media association has denounced the Israeli government’s continued refusal to lift its ban on unrestricted media access to Gaza, despite the ceasefire in the embattled enclave. The Foreign Press Association (FPA) issued a statement on Tuesday expressing its “profound disappointment” with the government, which had told the Supreme Court two days earlier that the ban should be maintained due to “security reasons”. Israel, which has barred foreign journalists from independently entering Gaza since the war started in October 2023, was responding to an FPA petition seeking free and...

January 07, 2026 - Bangladesh -  Rana Pratap Bairagi, a 38-year-old Hindu businessman and acting editor of Dainik BD Khabar, was fatally shot by unidentified assailants in Jashore district, Bangladesh, on January 5, 2026, in an attack that has intensified concerns about rising violence against religious minorities in the country. Bairagi owned an ice-making factory in Kopalia Bazar and was ambushed by men who reportedly called him out of his workplace before shooting him multiple times in the head. Police recovered bullet casings at the scene, and the motive remains under investigation. Bairagi’s killing occurred...

January 07, 2026 - USA/Venezuela -  Venezuelan authorities detained at least 14 journalists and media workers in Caracas on January 5, 2026, as the country grappled with political turmoil following the capture of President Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces. The detentions occurred while reporters were covering the swearing-in of interim president Delcy Rodríguez and related political events at the National Assembly, reflecting renewed pressure on the press during a volatile moment in Venezuela’s governance and media landscape. The National Union of Press Workers (SNTP) reported that 13 of those detained were affiliated with international media...

January 06, 2026 - USA/UK - The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has come under scrutiny after internal editorial guidance reportedly instructed its journalists not to describe the United States’ forcible removal of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro as a “kidnapping.” Leaked internal directives circulated on social media and referenced by commentators indicate that BBC staff were told to use terms such as “captured” or “seized” in reports, and avoid the word “kidnapped” when describing the U.S. military operation that led to Maduro’s arrest in early January 2026. The memo, said to have originated in a BBC...

January 06, 2026 - Ghana - Ghana’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Dr. Dominic Ayine, has renewed the government’s pledge to pursue accountability in the 2019 assassination of investigative journalist Ahmed Hussein-Suale, acknowledging ongoing challenges in the long-running inquiry but insisting authorities have not abandoned efforts to assemble sufficient evidence for prosecution. Ayine’s remarks, delivered in early January 2026, come almost eight years after Suale was fatally shot near his home in Accra while engaged in investigative reporting. Suale, a key member of the investigative team, Tiger Eye Private Investigations, and a close associate...

January 06, 2025 - Ghana - A Class Media Group reporter, Samuel Addo, alleges he was physically assaulted and robbed by personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) while covering a fire outbreak at Kasoa New Market in the Central Region on January 4, 2026, prompting a formal police complaint and widespread condemnation from media bodies. Addo recounted that after reporting live from the scene and seeking comment from GNFS officers, he was confronted by around ten fire service personnel, who allegedly seized him by the neck, twisted his arms behind his back, and...

January 05, 2026 - Palestine -  Israeli forces carried out a series of dawn raids across the occupied West Bank on January 5, 2026, detaining dozens of Palestinians, including a journalist and a 15-year-old boy, as part of intensified security operations in the territory, multiple local sources reported. The raids spanned several governorates, reflecting an ongoing campaign of arrests that has persisted since the outbreak of the 2023 Gaza war. Among those taken into custody was journalist Inas Ikhlawi, who was reportedly arrested at her home in Idhna near Hebron without any formal charges immediately...

January 05, 2026 - Turkey -  A prosecutor in Istanbul, Turkey, has submitted a final opinion requesting prison sentences ranging from five to ten years for seven journalists, an editor, a translator, and a sociologist, alleging that their contributions to pro-Kurdish publications constituted “aiding an armed terrorist organisation.” The case, heard by the Istanbul 13th Heavy Penal Court, stems from reporting and written work published in Yeni Özgür Politika and its supplement PolitikArt, outlets based in Germany that cover Kurdish issues and politics. The defendants named in the prosecutor’s opinion include Bianet editor Tuğçe Yılmaz...

January 05, 2026 - Palestine -  The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS) has documented 99 distinct violations committed by Israeli forces and associated actors against Palestinian journalists and media personnel during December 2025, highlighting escalating hazards facing press workers across Gaza and the occupied West Bank. The monthly report, released on January 4, 2026, portrays a sustained pattern of repression and obstruction that undermines independent reporting and restricts the capacity of journalists to operate freely and safely. According to the PJS, the documented incidents range from fatal attacks and serious injuries to detentions and physical assaults,...

January 05, 2026 - Palestine -  Palestinian journalist Ali al-Samoudi is reported to be at grave risk of imminent death while held in Israeli custody under administrative detention, according to appeals from the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate and official Palestinian media. Samoudi, a 59-year-old reporter for Al-Quds newspaper and a veteran journalist, has been detained since an Israeli military raid on his home in Jenin in April 2025, and his detention has been repeatedly extended without formal charges or a fair trial. Rights groups say his case typifies broader patterns of repression against Palestinian journalists. The...

January 05, 2026 - Azerbaijan -  A prominent imprisoned Azerbaijani opposition figure, Samir Ashurov, has ended an eight-day hunger strike after prison officials agreed to meet several of his core demands, his family and independent media reported. Ashurov, a member of Azerbaijan’s Popular Front Party, had launched the protest in late December 2025 to denounce physical mistreatment by prison staff and restrictions on basic rights, including the ability to communicate with his family. Ashurov’s wife, Nurana Ashurova, said her husband received assurances from the director of the penal colony that the alleged physical violence against...

January 04, 2026 - General -  Jamil Azar, a pioneering journalist and long-time anchor whose career helped shape modern Arab broadcast media, has died in London at the age of 89, according to multiple reports and tributes from colleagues and media organisations. Azar passed away on January 3, 2026, concluding a life dedicated to journalistic excellence that spanned more than five decades across the BBC and Al Jazeera. Born in 1937 in al-Husn, Jordan, Azar began his career at the BBC Arabic Service in 1965, where he worked for over thirty years as a news...

January 04, 2026 - Iraq -  Press freedom in Iraq deteriorated throughout 2025 amid a proliferation of violations against journalists and the absence of a dedicated legal framework to protect media workers, according to monitoring groups and rights defenders. The Journalists’ Rights Defense Association recorded 182 violations of press freedom during the year, encompassing arrests, physical assaults, coverage restrictions, legal complaints, equipment seizures, and fatal attacks, underscoring the precarious conditions under which Iraqi journalists operate. Despite constitutional guarantees of freedom of expression and press in Article 38 of Iraq’s federal constitution, journalists lack a specific...

January 03, 2026 - El Salvador/Spain - A 25-year-old Salvadoran photojournalist, Diego Andrés Rosa Rosales, was arrested by Spanish authorities in Seville on January 2, 2026, while attempting to file for political asylum, after an international Interpol “Red Notice” requested by the government of President Nayib Bukele was activated, press freedom groups reported. The arrest occurred at a local police station where Rosa had gone to begin his asylum process and was taken into custody once the notification was triggered by Spanish officials. Rosa has worked as a photojournalist covering human rights, social issues, and...

January 03, 2026 - Puerto Rico/USA -  A CBS News Philadelphia photojournalist and his wife are among numerous travelers stranded in Puerto Rico after temporary airspace restrictions led to widespread flight cancellations across parts of the Caribbean, leaving passengers unable to secure return flights home. The disruption, first reported on January 3, 2026, has compounded travel difficulties for individuals returning from holiday trips, forcing many to extend hotel stays amid rapidly increasing costs. The stranded photographer, identified as Nate Sylves, was scheduled to fly home with his wife following a weeklong cruise when their original...

January 02, 2026 - Australia -  A senior manager at MA Services Group, a Melbourne-based security and construction industry-linked firm, has been charged with making threatening telephone calls to Australian investigative journalist Nick McKenzie, authorities confirmed amid rising concerns about press safety. The 31-year-old man faces two counts of using a carriage service to menace or offend, allegedly linked to phone calls made to McKenzie’s home on December 24, 2025, the day after the company entered voluntary administration. The accused has been bailed to appear at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court in July 2026. Victoria Police reported...