freedom of the press

The New York Times' correspondent based in Tehran Thomas Erdbrink walks on a sidewalk in Tehran, Iran, April 28, 2009. (Vahid Salemi/AP)

June 11, 2019, 11:10 am

Iran revokes New York Times correspondent’s accreditation

Thomas Erdbrink unable to work in four months since government-required authorization removed; Tehran says it will be restored, but doesn’t explain delay

By AP

Turkish cartoonist Musa Kart attends a press conference held by opposition journalists in Istanbul, April 22, 2019. (AFP/Yasin Akgul)

April 26, 2019, 4:07 am

Turkish opposition daily cartoonist sent back to jail

Six total staffers from independent news outlet imprisoned for allegedly aiding terror groups, heightening concerns over press freedom in Turkey

By AFP

Palestinian journalist Hajar Harb stands in front of the courts complex in Gaza City on February 26, 2019. (MAHMUD HAMS / AFP)

February 26, 2019, 7:06 pm

Gaza reporter appeals Hamas prison sentence, fine

Judge postpones till March hearing for Hajar Harb, accused of false news, defamation, causing strife and being an impostor

By Agencies and TOI staff

President and Rector of the Central European University, CEU, Michael Ignatieff, speaks during a press conference in Budapest, Hungary, on May 30, 2017.

February 7, 2019, 5:53 pm

Canadian author, Reporters Without Borders win Israeli prize

Watchdog group and writer Michael Ignatieff awarded Dan David Prize for ‘defending democracy’ amid authoritarian wave

By AP

US President Donald Trump, right, gets into a heated exchange with CNN chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta, center, during a post-election press conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, November 7, 2018. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP)

November 20, 2018, 5:56 am

White House to restore CNN correspondent’s pass, with a warning

Network drops suit as Jim Acosta has credentials restored; administration introduces guidelines stopping reporters from asking follow-up questions without presidential consent

By David Bauder and Catherine Lucey

Myanmar journalist Wa Lone (C) is escorted by police after being sentenced by a court to jail in Yangon on September 3, 2018. (AFP PHOTO / Ye Aung THU)

September 3, 2018, 9:43 am

Myanmar court sentences Reuters reporters to 7 years in jail

Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo arrested while reporting on brutal crackdown against Rohingya minority; news agency head says punishment meant to intimidate press

By Victoria Milko and Aung Naing Soe

September 2, 2018, 6:00 am

Egypt’s Sissi okays law clamping down on social media freedoms

Measure puts anyone with enough followers under supervision and allows regime to block accounts that publish ‘fake news’

By AFP

Lauren Vowells, 29, of Boston, Massachusetts, reads a copy of the Boston Globe at South Station in Boston, August 15, 2018. (AFP PHOTO / Joseph PREZIOSO)

August 16, 2018, 12:21 pm

Nearly 350 US newsrooms run editorials denouncing Trump’s attacks on ‘fake news’

The Wall Street Journal, which is not participating, notes in a column that the effort runs counter to the independence that news outlets claim to seek

By David Bauder

Ivanka Trump, daughter and senior adviser to US President Donald Trump speaks in the East Room of the White House, July 19, 2018, in Washington. (Andrew Harnik/AP)

August 2, 2018, 8:37 pm

Ivanka Trump says she does not believe the media are ‘enemy of the people’

Daughter and senior adviser to the president notes that some of the reports about herself are not ‘fully accurate’

By JTA

Illustrative: Egyptian security officers guard a courthouse in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, November 8, 2017. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

July 13, 2018, 12:18 am

Egypt orders freed news site editor back into custody

Adel Sabri, set to be released after spending months in jail for different case, held again on charges of spreading false news and joining an outlawed group

By AP

Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak addresses a press conference at the Prime Minister's office in Putrajaya on July 28, 2015. (AFP/MOHD RASFAN)

March 26, 2018, 12:10 pm

Malaysian government seeks 10 years in jail for ‘fake news’

Opposition slams bill as ‘attack on the press,’ fearing it will be used to stifle stories on local PM’s corruption scandal

By EILEEN NG

In this Friday June 26, 2009 photo, BBC Persian service presenter Fardad Farahzad, right, gets ready to present the news, at the corporation's London headquarters. (AP Photo/Simon Dawson, File)

March 12, 2018, 5:18 am

BBC urges UN to help protect rights of its Iranian staff

Broadcaster says unprecedented appeal to world body a response to increasing ‘persecution and harassment’ of Persian Service staff

By AFP

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, waves to supporters during a rally in Istanbul, Friday, Dec. 15, 2017. (Kayhan Ozer/Pool Photo via AP)

January 17, 2018, 1:07 am

Global survey finds Turkey is no longer a free country

Blaming Trump, think tank warns world democracy in crisis in annual freedom report; Israel only free nation in Mideast, but also takes downturn on civil liberties

By Raoul Wootliff

Journalists watch a live broadcast of Russian President Vladimir Putin's Federal Assembly address at a press room at the Kremlin in Moscow on December 1, 2016. (AFP /Natalia KOLESNIKOVA)

November 15, 2017, 8:45 pm

Russian lawmakers back legislation targeting foreign media

In response to US pressure on RT, Kremlin amendment would require outlets to register as ‘foreign agents’

By Anna MALPAS

October 25, 2017, 11:35 pm

BBC complains to UN about Iran targeting its Persian service

Assets of over 150 people associated with British broadcaster frozen after allegations of ‘conspiracy against national security’

By Jon Gambrell