AFGHANISTAN: Broadcasting education and hope to women and girls in Afghanistan

UNESCO: Four years since the takeover by the de facto authorities, Afghan women and girls face increasingly harsh restrictions and violations of their rights.

---

AFGHANISTAN: Journalists face increasing persecution in fourth year under Taliban

IFJ: Afghanistan’s media continues to suffer escalating persecution on the fourth anniversary of the Taliban’s takeover, with the regime systematically decimating independent journalism, introducing oppressive media censorship and restrictions on women in media, and subjecting journalists to persistent violence, detainment, harassment, and intimidation.

---

BANGLADESH: Media freedom improved significantly in Bangladesh under interim govt, US State Dept reports

The Business Standard: Media freedom improved significantly in Bangladesh under the interim government, says the 2024 Report on Human Rights Practices in Bangladesh released by the US State Department yesterday.

---

CHINA: Defending journalism is not “anti-China”, it’s pro-press freedom: Clarifying a few basic facts for Beijing’s propagandists and proxies 

RSF: In response to a smear campaign by Chinese regime-aligned media and proxies over Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) support for arbitrarily imprisoned Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Lai, whose trial is set to resume on 15 August, RSF sets the record straight: its mission is to defend journalism — especially against authoritarian regimes like China that seek to crush it — whatever pressure and threats it may face.

---

CHINA: From basketball to history, Chinese podcasts boom in censors’ shadow (Paywall)

Financial Times: There has been a surge in grassroots broadcasts of personal stories and discussion of societal issues

---

INDIA: Kerala chief minister denies media restriction allegations and affirms commitment to press freedom

The Times of India: Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the reports that the govt is imposing restrictions on media freedom in the state were baseless.

---

KYRGYZSTAN: Mass Media Law must be improved to protect independent journalism

Article 19: The recently-adopted Law on Mass Media in Kyrgyzstan represents a serious setback for press freedom and freedom of expression. ARTICLE 19 calls on the authorities to urgently reassess the legislation and amend the problematic provisions that impose severe obstacles to free reporting and restrict the public’s access to information.

---

MALAYSIA: Petron renews partnership with RTM for Jelajah Aspirasi Malaysia

Star CarSifu: The month-long journey, organised in celebration of Merdeka Month and Malaysia Day, presents a series of specially curated programmes and activities aimed at fostering national unity through direct interaction with the Malaysian community.

---

PAKISTAN & BANGLADESH: Pakistan, Bangladesh vow to deepen ties in media, culture, and politics

The Nation: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar on Saturday reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to further enhancing cooperation with Bangladesh in political, economic, and cultural spheres.

---

SOUTH KOREA: Broadcast Act revision: Reform or control of public broadcasting? (Opinion) 

Korea Joongang Daily: Every change of administration triggers political battles over control of public broadcasters, as each side seeks to seize or defend the levers of influence.

---

SOUTH KOREA: Lee approves promulgation of controversial broadcasting, agriculture bills

The Korea Times: The amendment to the Broadcasting Act, led by the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, was part of three contentious broadcasting bills aimed at reforming the governance structure of the nation’s public broadcast media by weakening the government and the National Assembly’s power to name board directors.

---

TAIWAN: Taiwan hosts global Indigenous delegations for broadcasters conference 

Rti: Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim spoke at the welcome dinner this Thursday, welcoming the international delegates to share their experiences in preserving and promoting Indigenous languages and cultures in Taiwan, while praising the contributions of Taiwan’s Indigenous people. 

---

TAIWAN & NEW ZEALAND: Whakaata Māori Strengthens International Ties at Indigenous Media Summit in Taiwan (Press release) 

Whakaata Māori: The World Indigenous Broadcasters Network (WIBN) has opened its 2025 conference in Taipei, Taiwan. The event, hosted by Taiwan Indigenous Television (TITV), brings together Indigenous media leaders from Aotearoa New Zealand, Canada, Australia, Norway, Taiwan, the Pacific and other regions.

---

VIETNAM: “My case clearly shows there is absolutely no press freedom in Vietnam,” says persecuted journalist

RSF: Reporters Without Borders (RSF) denounces the Vietnamese government’s continuing crackdown on independent journalism, as seen in the case of Doan Bao Chau, a prominent journalist forced into hiding by relentless state persecution.

AUSTRALIA: ABC International Development launches international media networking platform (Press release) 

ABC: The Indo-Pacific Media Network launches this week, linking “alumni” from ABC International Development (ABCID) programs and creating a dynamic way for journalists and media professionals in Asia and the Pacific to exchange ideas, build relationships and identify career development opportunities.

---

FIJI: FMA condemns attempted attack on Journalists 

FBC: The Fijian Media Association is strongly condemning today’s attempted attack on journalists covering the sentencing of convicted murderer Tevita Kapawale outside the High Court in Suva.

---

FIJI: Tabuya to propose that Online Safety Commission should come under Information Ministry

Fiji Village: She also stressed that as a government, they need to listen to the media and allow media freedom because it is in the best interest of the people.

---

 

NEW ZEALAND: Media Insider: Media Wellbeing Survey – how New Zealand’s remaining journalists and media personnel feel about their roles and the industry (Paywall) 

The NZ Herald: Journalists are passionate about their profession, but are feeling bruised and exhausted after years of layoffs, questions over media trust, and – for some – public harassment. An inaugural Aotearoa Media Wellbeing Survey, conducted by Media Chaplaincy NZ, reveals “sobering” and “confronting” results, with just one in four respondents optimistic

---

NEW ZEALAND: Mediawatch: RNZ rejigging radio to arrest audience decline 

RNZ: “We now need to take a different approach,” RNZ chief executive Paul Thompson told RNZ staff today.

---

NEW ZEALAND: RNZ has been in decline for years – why did it pay $30,000 to have the obvious stated? 

The Spinoff: A scathing external review into RNZ’s declining audience suggests drastic changes are needed. Radio veteran Bill Kerton wonders if it’s too little, too late.

---

NEW ZEALAND: The news of radio’s death are greatly exaggerated

RadioInfo: A 90-page report released last week, commissioned by and for New Zealand public broadcaster RNZ had some damning statistics. National weekly cumulative listenership has fallen by more than six percent each year since 2021.

ALBANIA: Lift blockade on Focus Media Group and protect journalists’ rights (Statement) 

Article 19: We, the SafeJournalists Network, partners of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), Reporters Without Borders (RSF), and Albanian media freedom organisations, express shared concern over the police blockade and subsequent events affecting Focus Media Group: News24, BalkanWeb, Panorama, Gazeta Shqiptare, and other affiliated outlets.

---

ALBANIA: Protests after closure of news channel premises in Tirana

DW: Early on Saturday, Albanian private television channel News 24 went off air during a police operation. Journalists call it an attack on press freedom. The premises have been earmarked for a defense industry project.

---

AUSTRIA: “ORF must become better at listening,” says Green Foundation Board Member (German) 

Der Standard: Hildegard Aichberger from ORF wishes for a “radical innovation boost”, and for the general election in 2026 “competition” and a “good final spurt” from Weißmann

---

BELGIUM: Local media reform: AKT for Wallonia offers financial assistance to businesses (French) 

RTBF: Last May, Minister Jacqueline Galant (MR), responsible for media in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, presented her plan to reform local media (local TV). The number of these television stations would be reduced from 12 to eight.

---

BELGIUM: RTBF defends the independence of its editorial staff and refutes any allegation that it is bowing to pressure (Statement – French) 

RTBF: RTBF does not endorse the publication of the recording of an incomplete exchange between one of its journalists and Georges-Louis Bouchez. It was not the work of RTBF or its journalist, to whom RTBF confirms its full support.

---

BULGARIA: Bulgarian National Radio will support Bulgarian technical education and science (Press release – Bulgarian) 

BNR: Public Radio and the Technical University – Sofia signed a memorandum of cooperation

---

CZECH REPUBLIC: Czech Television condemns hate speech against the show Chi Chi na gauči and its creators (Press release – Czech) 

Česká Televize: Artistic and creative expression should have a place in our society, even if it provokes different opinions.

---

CZECH REPUBLIC: Dobrovský & Šídlo: ČT as Babiš’s first victim. Coming soon to your screen (Czech) 

SZ: One of the most easily fulfilled promises of Andrej Babiš and the SPD is a change in the financing of Czech Television and Radio. The Dobrovský & Šídlo podcast talks to former ČT director Petr Dvořák about what that would mean.

---

FINLAND: Yle’s revised ethical guidelines for content and publishing now also take into account the use of artificial intelligence (Finnish) 

Yle: The guidelines are in line with the Journalist’s Guidelines and the Freedom of Expression Act. The revised guidelines aim to cover Yle’s operations more broadly and with less room for interpretation.

---

FRANCE: The president of the French National Audiovisual Institute was suspended after receiving cocaine. (French) 

Le Temps: French Culture Minister Rachida Dati has suspended the president of the National Audiovisual Institute (INA), Laurent Vallet, from his duties, she announced on Tuesday.

---

GEORGIA: Against a backdrop of serious democratic crisis, press freedom is under threat

L’œil de la Maison des journalistes: Since late November 2024, Georgians have been protesting daily for democracy and their country’s accession to the European Union. Now facing increasing repression that threatens their rights and press freedom, they are calling on the international community to take action.

---

GERMANY: Future of the children’s channel: Media Committee of the State Parliament discusses broadcasting reforms (German) 

MDR: Do the broadcasting reforms mean the end of the children’s channel KiKA as we know it? Not necessarily, say the state parliament’s legal experts.

---

GERMANY: Public broadcasting: Saxony sees financing model on the brink (German) 

Deutschlandfunk: Saxony’s state government apparently does not expect a new financing model for public broadcasting until the end of November.

---

IRELAND: €10 million in funding support for journalism announced (Press release) 

Coimisiún na Meán: Coimisiún na Meán has today (15.08.2025) opened three new rounds of journalism funding schemes including a new scheme for news reporting.

---

KOSOVO: Newhouse Professor Anthony Adornato Trains Journalists in Kosovo Through Fulbright (Q&A)

Newhouse: The former television anchor and reporter returned from a three-week Fulbright Specialist experience in Kosovo, where he trained journalists at the country’s public service broadcaster, Radio Television of Kosovo (RTK), as part of the New Trends in Communication project.

---

LATVIA & UKRAINE: LSM launches public media charity drive for Ukraine (Press release) 

LSM: LSM in cooperation with “Ziedot.lv” is organising a charity campaign to deliver Latvian-made goods – night vision devices, clothing, food and other necessary resources – to Ukrainian soldiers at the front.

---

NORWAY: NRK tests advertisements in connection with the general election (Press release – Norwegian) 

NRK: The goal is to help even more people discover NRK’s election content and get good information about the various parties.

---

RUSSIA: EU urged to spend defence funds on independent media to combat Russian propaganda (Paywall) 

Follow the Money: Media freedom advocate Ruth Kronenburg is alarmed by the impact of U.S. foreign aid cuts on free and fair journalism worldwide. She’s urged the EU to invest 150 million euros of defence funding to fill the gap. Without urgent support, independent outlets in nations such as Georgia and Ukraine will vanish and Russian propaganda will fill the void, she told Follow the Money.

---

RUSSIA: ‘Kept fighting despite the odds’: the Russian journalists who risked everything to report the truth (Film review) 

The Guardian: In an expansive five-hour documentary, young journalists are branded ‘foreign agents’ for continuing to report independently as authoritarianism spreads

---

SERBIA: EFJ calls on the police to protect journalists covering the protests 

EFJ: The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins its Serbian affiliates the Journalists’ Association of Serbia (UNS) and the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (IJAS-NUNS) in calling on the police to immediately stop the violence against journalists and to protect them while they are covering the clashes between rival groups of protesters in Serbia, as months of anti-government demonstrations boiled over into street violence.

---

SLOVAKIA: Another purge in the STVR leadership: Flašíková shuffles the cards again, famous names leave… (Slovak) 

PLUS 7 Dni: The chairs at the public broadcaster STVR have been shaken again. Director General Martina Flašíková announced further fundamental changes to television.

---

SWITZERLAND: Strengthening the Swiss TV advertising market: Industry agrees on further development of the model for replay TV advertising (Press release – German) 

SRG SSR: Starting in November 2025, TV providers – now with the participation of SRG – will implement the further developed model for replay TV advertising together with distributors and marketers.

---

SWITZERLAND: The initiative to reduce the radio and TV license fee was rejected by the Council of States committee. (French) 

Le Temps: The Council of States’ Transport and Telecommunications Committee has clearly rejected the so-called SSR initiative. The National Council had already rejected it.

---

UK: Channel 5 revives BBC’s Play for Today to ‘help shape future of British drama’

The Guardian: Series aims to follow original in tackling ‘thornier issues’, and to support talent from lower-income backgrounds

---

UK: U.K. Secretly Spent $3.2 Million to Stop Journalists From Reporting on Data Breach

The New York Times: After British authorities accidentally exposed information about 19,000 Afghans, the government sought a legal order preventing disclosure of the breach.

ISRAEL: What to Know About Al Jazeera, the Broadcaster Targeted by Israel (Paywall) 

The New York Times: Al Jazeera, five of whose reporters the broadcaster said were killed by an Israeli strike, has angered governments across the region that claim it gives voice to terrorists. The outlet denies that.

---

ISRAEL & PALESTINE: Israel must allow independent investigations of Palestinian journalist killings – and let international media into Gaza 

The Conversation: The New York-based media freedom organisation, the Committee to Protect Journalists, is scrupulous with its words. So, when the organisation described the killing of six Palestinian journalists in an Israeli air strike as “murder”, the word was a carefully considered choice.

---

ISRAEL & PALESTINE: Starved, displaced and exhausted: Inside AFP’s fight to protect its Gaza reporters 

Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism: In late July, four of the largest providers of international news warned their Gaza journalists were starving. AFP, AP, BBC News and Reuters issued a joint call to Israel to allow journalists to enter and leave the Gaza Strip, and to allow adequate amounts of food to reach the people there.

---

PALESTINE: UN, EU, media groups condemn Israeli strike that killed Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza 

France24: The United Nations, European Union and press freedom groups on Monday slammed an Israeli strike that killed six journalists, including five from Al Jazeera, in Gaza on Sunday.

---

PALESTINE: Urgent Ideas for Defending Press Freedom in Gaza 

CJR: Letters, condemnations, and Israeli court cases have failed to change the world’s deadliest place for journalists. We’ve cast out for a new approach.

---

TURKEY: IPI condemns armed attack on Evrensel’s İzmir bureau, calls for urgent investigation

IPI: The International Press Institute (IPI) strongly condemns the armed attack on the İzmir bureau of Turkey’s Evrensel newspaper and calls on authorities to ensure the safety of critical media outlets and journalists.

CANADA: CBC/Radio-Canada Deploys Lawo Solution to Standardize Live Streaming Audio Sources

TVTechnology: Broadcaster has begun using two instances of the Lawo HOME mc2 DSP app.

---

CANADA: Rally outside Winnipeg CBC building protests broadcaster’s Gaza coverage

CBC News: Public broadcaster is ‘committed to covering the conflict in all its complexity’: CBC statement

---

CANADA: TVO Marks Five Summers of Supporting Black Youth Leadership Development (Press release) 

TVO: TVO Media Education Group (TVO) is proud to mark five years of meaningful partnership with the Toronto District School Board’s Centre of Excellence for Black Student Achievement through the Black Student Summer Leadership Program (BSSLP).

---

CANADA: Why the 2025 election was the “most poorly covered election in modern Canadian history”

Nieman Lab: In the first federal election since news was banned on Meta platforms, Canadians lost out, a new report finds.

---

US: Goodbye, MSNBC. Hello, MS NOW.

The New York Times: The cable news network is changing its name this year because a corporate spinoff is separating MSNBC from its cousin, NBC News.

---

US: How tribal radio stations are preparing for a future without the Corporation for Public Broadcasting

NiemanLab: “These stations are not just media outlets, they are cultural infrastructure.”

---

US: Is Kari Lake a CEO? Her agency said so. The law suggests not

NPR: Trump administration official Kari Lake told a federal judge Wednesday that she’s just doing her job in forcing out nearly the entire workforce of the Voice of America.

---

US: Kari Lake defends VOA cuts in court after warnings from Capitol Hill 

Washington Post: As Trump lieutenant tells a federal judge she is following the law in dismantling the international broadcasting agency, emails obtained by The Washington Post show staff on Capitol Hill warned her about overstepping.

---

US: Newsmax Will Pay $67 Million to Settle Dominion Defamation Lawsuit

The New York Times: Dominion Voting Systems sued the right-wing cable channel for broadcasting false claims that the voting machine company had rigged votes in the 2020 presidential election.

---

US: NJ PBS hit with layoffs following state and federal funding cuts 

Current: The station previously cut NJ Spotlight News staff in March.

---

US: NPR Joins Mountain West News Bureau, Bringing to 7 the Number of Regional Collaborations (Press release) 

NPR: NPR announced today that it is joining the Mountain West News Bureau to create a regional newsroom that brings together public media organizations across seven Western states.

---

US: PBS Slashes Budget by 21% After Federal Funding Cuts (Paywall) 

The New York Times: The nonprofit will receive less revenue from its members, which are under pressure to make up for shortfalls of their own.

---

US: Pubmedia leaders plan for future of music licensing agreements without CPB

Current: The shutdown of CPB and rescission of federal support raises questions about who will pay the costs and where funds will come from.

---

US: Shooting the Messenger 

CJR: President Trump’s attack on numbers includes public polls, an essential feature of the democratic free press.

---

US: These rural radio stations are a lifeline for their communities. Trump’s cuts threaten their future

The Guardian: ‘Phones can’t go down into a canyon or around a mesa, but radio does,’ Richard Grey of Arizona’s KGHR says

Discover Pakistan launches world’s first AI News Channel, broadcasting industry redefined

Pakistan Observer: Discover Pakistan – Pakistan’s number one infotainment TV channel and a global leader in media innovation, on Thursday announced the launch of the world’s first AI- powered English news channel namely Pakistan Today English News.

---

Half of journalists use generative AI, new survey shows

POLITICO: Yet the majority still think it harms trust in newsrooms.

---

Media Expert: This is the end of “channel hopping.” Traditional TV consumption has no chance. (Paywall – Polish) 

Gazeta Wyborcza: Damian Nowicki: Television will be hybrid—meaning both traditional programming and interactive content delivered via the internet. Media will be decentralized, and the role of smaller creators and broadcasters will increase.

---

‘My Undesirable Friends: Part I — Last Air in Moscow’ Review: Strangling Democracy

The New York Times: One of the year’s most towering achievements is a documentary about Russian independent journalism being wiped out in real time.

---

Publisher traffic sources: Google steady but social and direct referrals are down

Press Gazette: Chartbeat data reveals traffic trends to 565 publishers since 2019.

---

What I Learned From Reading 1,334 Grant Applications

Nieman Reports: An inside look at the journalism grant review process reveals how to write a winning application: Read the instructions carefully, flesh out your story, and please, don’t rely on artificial intelligence tools.

---

When Neutrality Is a Constraint

CJR: Journalism in the 1930s failed to communicate the danger of Hitler’s rise. Are we repeating the same mistake now?

---

Who Killed the Narrative Podcast?

Rolling Stone: When a new longform medium sprung up in the mid-2010s, journalists flocked to it. Then almost as quickly as it appeared, it was gone.

---

Why has trust in news fallen? The answer is more complicated than we thought

RNZ: We live in an age of declining trust in public institutions: Parliament, the health and education systems, courts and police have all suffered over the past decade, both in New Zealand and internationally.

---

Young journalists are told to ‘build your brand.’ What does that even mean today?

Poynter: In demystifying this catch-all phrase, professors, media executives and journalists of all types weigh in.