press freedom - Page 2

James O’Keefe’s investigative outlet, Project Veritas, reported Wednesday that a source within the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had revealed that the agency is targeting the “news media,” including Project Veritas itself.

Reporters Without Borders (known by its French initials, RSF) published its annual Press Freedom Index on Tuesday, ranking America at a paltry 42nd place – behind countries like Burkina Faso and East Timor – because of the allegedly negative effect of President Donald Trump’s time in office.

China’s state-run Global Times on Sunday insisted the shocking viral video of a Dutch TV journalist getting dragged away from his camera in mid-broadcast by Beijing Winter Olympics security guards was actually “reasonable and justified,” but “anti-China forces” have magnified the incident into a major free speech scandal.

Some establishment media outlets are celebrating President Joe Biden’s rhetorical attack on Fox News’ Peter Doocy this week, calling for more “trash talk” — after describing then-President Donald Trump as a threat to press freedom every time he criticized a journalist.

Press freedom advocates report 2021 was another dismal year for journalism around the world. Few of those advocates have examined how the antics of politically biased American corporate media are hurting their cause.

President Biden’s “Summit for Democracy” on Thursday and Friday was a spectacular disaster, an embarrassment to the free world at precisely the moment when democracy needed to demonstrate bold confidence – and basic competence – against the rising tide of authoritarianism. 

Al-Musalmi Al-Kabbashi, Sudan bureau chief for Al Jazeera News, was arrested on Sunday by Sudanese security forces who raided his home in Khartoum. The military junta currently ruling Sudan did not give any reason for his arrest.

HONG KONG (AP) – Hong Kong authorities declined to renew a visa for a foreign journalist working for The Economist without any explanation, the magazine said.

The family of Chinese citizen journalist Zhang Zhan, detained since May 2020 for her reporting from the epicenter of the global coronavirus pandemic in Wuhan, is warning that she is severely underweight from a hunger strike and “may not survive the coming cold winter.”

A hard-left “news” site called Novara Media was briefly cancelled by YouTube. Among those calling most loudly for its reinstatement were the people it most hates: “right-wing” and “libertarian” media commentators. Why?

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an international press freedom organization, warned on Tuesday that the Sudanese military is arresting journalists while its supporters attack them in the streets. 

A leading Australian political cartoonist has been sacked by his newspaper after likening the enforcement of vaccine mandates in the former British colony to Tiananmen Square.

The editorial staff at Sweden’s largest Arabic-language news website say they received a flood of hateful comments following the death of Swedish Mohammed cartoonist Lars Vilks this week.

The Hungarian government hit back at faux conservative U.S. Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) after he criticised FNC’s Tucker Carlson for visiting their country, accusing him of undermining the free press and democratic elections.

Hong Kong Secretary for Security Chris Tang on Wednesday commanded the Hong Kong Journalists’ Association (HKJA) to hand over a list of all its members, where they are employed, and how many of them are students. Tang accused the HKJA of “infiltrating” schools and “recruiting” students for subversive activities.

BERLIN (AP) – Luxembourg has rejected an application by Russian state broadcaster RT for a licence to distribute its German-language service via satellite.

Dutch veteran crime journalist Peter R. de Vries died on Thursday, just over a week after he was shot point-blank on the streets of Amsterdam.   De Vries, 64, passed away Thursday after fighting for his life for just over a week

A mob of far-leftists stormed the offices of a newspaper that revealed the nationalities of suspects arrested for the rape and murder of a 13-year-old girl.

Hong Kong media company Next Digital said on Friday that it will not cease operations, contrary to a human resources email on Wednesday that said the company would shut down this week.

The Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) warned Monday that more staffers from the now-defunct Apple Daily pro-democracy newspaper face arrest, as the Beijing-controlled city government works its way down a “list” of troublesome writers it has targeted for punishment.

Chinese state media on Friday claimed the destruction of pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily in Hong Kong was no different than American tech companies colluding to shut down the social media platform Parler.

Hongkongers ignored inclement weather and began lining up at one o’clock in the morning on Thursday to buy the final edition of Apple Daily, the pro-democracy newspaper crushed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) with police raids and asset seizures last week.

Hong Kong’s pro-democracy Apple Daily announced on Wednesday that it will cease operations at midnight and distribute its final edition on Thursday, one week after the island’s Beijing-controlled government raided the newspaper’s offices and arrested five of its executives for allegedly violating the totalitarian “national security law.”

Apple Daily insiders said Tuesday that staffers are leaving the stricken newspaper after a crackdown by Hong Kong’s Beijing-controlled government led to the jailing of its editor-in-chief and freezing of its assets.

An adviser to jailed owner Jimmy Lai warned Monday that Hong Kong’s pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily could be forced to shut down “in a matter of days” because the government froze its assets after a massive police raid last week.

Apple Daily on Friday reported eager customers lining up at midnight to buy the newspaper after five of its senior executives were arrested under Beijing’s tyrannical “national security law” and Hong Kong’s security minister warned the public to “keep a distance” from the publication.

Hundreds of Hong Kong police officers descended upon the offices of leading pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily on Thursday, arresting its editor in chief and four other senior executives on charges of violating the island’s Beijing-imposed “national security law” by “colluding” with foreign powers.

The Associated Press (AP) denied any knowledge that the building housing its offices in Gaza was also shared by Hamas terrorists, as claimed by the Israeli military and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the office block was bombed on Saturday.

Prince Harry, husband of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, has lamented the “genetic pain” of his upbringing and compared royal life to being a zoo animal.  

Journalist Jojje Olsson told Breitbart London that threats from the Chinese embassy in Sweden will not deter him reporting on the CCP.

Reporters Without Borders, commonly known by its French acronym RSF, published its annual report on press freedom Tuesday. The 2021 edition found press freedom in decline around the world and said “China continues to be the world’s biggest jailer of press freedom defenders.”

Four men armed with sledgehammers forcibly broke into and ransacked the Hong Kong printing house of the anti-communist newspaper Epoch Times on Monday, local news outlet Coconuts Hong Kong reported.

Jordanian public prosecutor Hassan al-Abdallat issued an order Tuesday banning all Jordanian media outlets from reporting on the rift between King Abdullah II and his half-brother, former Crown Prince Hamza, ostensibly because any coverage of the royal dispute would jeopardize investigations of a seditious plot with which Hamza was supposedly involved.

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and husband Prince Harry had their team contact the BBC to tell them to make sure panels discussing their tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey were not populated by “old white men”, according to reports.

Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported on Tuesday that the family of missing Wuhan citizen journalist Fang Bin has been threatened into silence by Chinese officials.

Swedish police in the city of Uppsala detained a reporter from the Hungarian television station HÍRTV this week for two hours after he filmed a report from in front of a local police station.