INDONESIA: Why TikTok Refuses to Be Regulated in Indonesia’s Broadcasting Bill

Tempo: TikTok Indonesia rejects the plan to regulate digital platforms in the Revised Broadcasting Law (RUU).

KYRGYZSTAN: Court shutters Kyrgyz broadcaster for sarcasm, press takes a hit in Central Asia

Eurasianet: The picture continues to darken for press freedom in Central Asia as a court in Kyrgyzstan this month closed down a critical broadcaster for “sarcasm and mimicry” and sentenced a blogger to probation for snarky Facebook posts.

MALAYSIA: RTM collaborates with Ministry of Education for the Junior Innovathon (Malay)

RTM: The Ministry of Economy (KE) in collaboration with the Ministry of Education Malaysia (KPM) and the Malaysian Broadcasting Department (RTM) will organize the Junior INNOVATHON program in 2025. 

MALAYSIA: RTM to hold pitching session in Sabah, encourages local content participation

The Borneo Post: Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) will organise a pitching session for content providers in Sabah, to be held in Kota Kinabalu.

PAKISTAN: Pakistan, China agree on joint media cooperation against fake news

Radio Pakistan: Pakistan and China have agreed to further enhance ties and joint broadcasting projects between their state broadcasters to effectively tackle fake news and disinformation.

PAKISTAN: Peca being exploited to silence independent voices: speakers

Dawn: peakers at a national round table discussion on the rising constraints to freedom of expression in Pakistan slammed the recent amendments to the Prevention of Electronic Crimes (Amendment) Act (Peca) 2025, claiming that the law was being exploited across the country mainly to silence free and independent voices.

SOUTH KOREA: Kim Jang-kyum, co-hosted by the 野 Policy Committee and Science and Defense, said, “An unconstitutional attempt to dominate even private broadcasting.”

Maeil Business Paper: While the ruling and opposition parties are sharply divided over the three broadcasting laws promoted by the Democratic Party of Korea (Broadcasting Act, Broadcasting Culture Promotion Association Act, and Korea Education Broadcasting Corporation Act), the People’s Power will hold an “emergency debate to block the Lee Jae-myung administration’s three broadcasting laws.”

REGIONAL: Central Asia’s Evolving Censorship: From Physical Threats To Algorithmic Purges

RFE/RL: These incidents highlight a growing tactic in Kazakhstan’s digital crackdown targeting influential voices of dissent using technical removals and opaque copyright claims, rather than overt censorship. It’s part of a broader trend across Central Asia, where freedom of expression continues to erode under government pressure.

AUSTRALIA: Applications open for the ABC Trailblazers Program (Press release)

ABC: Applications are now open for the 2026 ABC Trailblazers Program for emerging regional leaders who are creating positive change in their communities.

AUSTRALIA: Ken Henry wants Australia’s media to do a better job

ABC: Ken Henry, a former treasury secretary, wants the media to do a better job. He says the media has to hold Australia’s political system accountable for its failure to deliver a better future for younger Australians.

AUSTRALIA: SBS strengthens commitment to inclusion with new commissioning guidelines (Press release)

SBS: SBS has launched new Commissioning Inclusion Guidelines (2025-2028), reaffirming the broadcaster’s commitment to ensuring all Australians see themselves and their communities represented in its commissioned content.

FIJI: Fijian media unite for historic Northern Town Hall this week with the public, PM, Deputy PM and other ministers

Fiji Village: In an unprecedented display of media solidarity and collaboration, Fiji’s major media organisations are uniting for the first time to co-host a historic Town Hall “Meet the Public and the Press” forums featuring Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka and Deputy Prime Minister Professor Biman Prasad in Labasa, and senior cabinet and government officials in Savusavu.

FIJI: Media for Unity: Journalists Reimagine Their Role in Building a More Inclusive Fiji

UNDP: Accurate information, facilitating dialogue, encouraging ideas; these core principles reflect the role that the media industry can play in fostering social cohesion. 

NEW ZEALAND: Mediawatch: Another $1 deal changes the media landscape

RNZ: Analysis: For the second time in five years, a major New Zealand media company has been offloaded by overseas owners for a single dollar. What does Sky buying Three – and the other Warner Bros Discovery channels – mean for the industry, and for viewers?

PAPUA NEW GUINEA: From Radio Waves to digital shores: 20 years of PNG Australia Media Development Initiative

Post Courier

REGIONAL: Australia must fight for its voice in the Indo-Pacific

ASPI: The battle for hearts and minds in the Indo-Pacific is being fought not on traditional battlefields, but in the digital realm where truth and falsehood collide at the speed of light.

ALBANIA: Albania’s Public Broadcaster Paying Price of Former Head’s Firing Spree

Balkan Insight: The former head of Albania’s public broadcaster abruptly fired some 150 of its employees; they went to court, and many are winning, at a growing cost to RTSH.

BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA: Abrupt closure of Al Jazeera Balkans impacts over 200 media workers

IFJ: The regional TV channel Al Jazeera Balkans, headquartered in the capital Sarajevo, announced its abrupt closure on 12 July, 14 years since it was launched.

FRANCE: Public broadcasting reform painfully adopted in the Senate: a look back at the heated debates in 5 acts (French)

Public Sénat: Elected officials have adopted the establishment of an “executive” holding company to oversee France Télévisions, Radio France, and the INA (National Audiovisual Institute).

GERMANY: ZDF online offerings with new record figures (Press release – German)

ZDF: ZDF’s online offerings are gaining more and more users. The ZDF streaming portal is reaching new record highs: With 266.13 million visits, February 2025 saw the highest monthly acceptance to date, followed by January 2025 with 255.10 million visits.

GREECE: Open Letter to the Prime Minister of Greece (Letter)

ECPMF: We, the undersigned organisations, are writing to you to request written information on the Greek government’s upcoming plans to undertake meaningful reforms to address ongoing media freedom concerns in the country. 

IRELAND: Sustainable funding essential to ensure future of public service media, say broadcasters

Irish Examiner: Director general of TG4, Deirdre Ní Choistín, will tell the Oireachtas media committee that any multiannual funding arrangement must be adequate, predictable and sustainable

SERBIA: New death threat against independent N1 television channel requires urgent police protection (15 July)

IFJ: The independent television channel N1’s editorial staff, regularly threatened for their critical reporting, recently faced a frightening shift from online violence to offline threats within the newsroom.

UK: Public Service Media Review (Report)

Ofcom: The UK media landscape is undergoing rapid transformation. Traditional broadcasters are in a fierce battle for audience attention, while global tech giants flood the market with an ever-growing range of content.

UK: UK public service TV ‘endangered’ in YouTube era, says Ofcom

The Guardian: Public service television such as the news, ITV’s Mr Bates vs the Post Office and the BBC nature series Wild Isles is becoming an “endangered species” in the streaming era and ministers should pass laws to make it easier to discover on websites such as YouTube, the media regulator has said.

REGIONAL: EBU calls for safeguards to access public service media content in the Digital Networks Act

EBU: The EBU advocates for universal access to high-quality, trusted public service media across all platforms and devices. We urge the EU to ensure the Digital Networks Act (DNA) protects broadcast services, guarantees easy access to radio in connected vehicles, maintains the must-carry and net neutrality principles, rejects extra fees for content delivery, and preserves national control over broadcasting spectrum allocation.

REGIONAL: RSF publishes new report to protect Europe’s public media (Report)

RSF: Entitled “Pressure on public media: a decisive test for European democracies,” the report details various scenarios facing EU public media — some encouraging, others disheartening — and states that a sharp European awakening is urgently needed to create tomorrow’s public media.

ISRAEL: AFP journalists’ union warns colleagues in Gaza are at serious risk of starvation: ‘We refuse to see them die’

The Times of Israel: The Journalists Association for Agency France Presse (AFP) says in a statement that its colleagues reporting in the Gaza Strip are at serious risk of starvation, and that “without intervention, the last reporters in Gaza will die.”

ISRAEL: As Israeli mainstream TV ignores Gazans’ suffering, these outlets expose surveillance, brutality and war crimes

Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism: Journalists from Israel’s Haaretz, +972 Magazine and Hamakom Hachi Ham Bagehenom explain how they report on the conflict for a reluctant audience

ISRAEL: Netanyahu vs. the Israeli Media (Feature)

Nieman Reports

SYRIA & ISRAEL: Israel attacks Syrian military HQ – and disrupts live TV broadcast

Sky News: The Israeli military says it is monitoring “actions being taken against Druze civilians” – but Syria says its forces have been responding to the “source of fire” inside the southern city of Sweida.

TURKEY: Turkey outlines plans to build Çamlıca Tower-inspired towers across 30 cities

Data Center Dynamics: … As reported by Hurriyet, the towers will provide centralized broadcast services to dozens of analog and digital broadcasters, improve efficiency, reduce electromagnetic pollution, and replace outdated, scattered antennas. … 

CANADA: CBC host Travis Dhanraj says he was ‘silenced’ and ‘forced to resign’ after raising systemic issues

CBC: Former CBC News host Travis Dhanraj said he had no choice but to resign from the broadcaster after he raised systemic issues related to lack of diversity of opinion and editorial independence and was stonewalled by his employer. His lawyer says he intends to sue the public broadcaster.

CANADA: CBC/Radio-Canada asked to cut up to 15% of budget as part of federal efficiency review

Broadcast Dialogue: CBC/Radio-Canada has confirmed it’s been asked to participate in a federal government expenditure review that would require the public broadcaster to cut up to 15% of its total budget over the next three years.

CANADA: Wildfires show why CBC needs public safety mandate, McGill research centre says

CBC: The wildfires that are flaring up across Canada again are one of the reasons public safety should be added to CBC/Radio-Canada’s mandate, a new report from a research centre at McGill University argues.

US: Congress rolls back $9 billion in public media funding and foreign aid

NPR: The House has approved a Trump administration plan to rescind $9 billion in previously allocated funds, including $1.1 billion for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) — a move that cuts all federal support for NPR, PBS and their member stations — and about $7 billion in foreign aid.

US: ‘Devastating’: US public broadcasters condemn Trump cuts to key programs

The Guardian: Public broadcast station leaders are condemning Donald Trump’s latest victory after Congress approved a bill to cancel all federal funding for public broadcasting programs including PBS and NPR.

US: How bipartisan support for public media unraveled in the Trump era

NPR: When President Lyndon B. Johnson spoke after signing the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, he marveled at technologies like radio and television and satellites, and echoed the words of Samuel Morse in sending the first telegraph message.

US: Judge issues restraining order against Los Angeles Police Department over violations of journalists’ rights

IPI: Order follows more than 80 documented incidents of police misconduct towards journalists covering protests in Los Angeles.

US: Senate Vote to Defund NPR and PBS Betrays Local Communities Across the U.S.

PEN America: Instead of Funding Public Media, Senate Caves to President Trump’s Campaign to Punish Dissent and Control Information.

US: Six months of Trump’s war on the press: importing and exporting authoritarian tendencies

RSF: Six months into US President Donald Trump’s second term, his administration has become increasingly hostile towards the press, both mimicking and inspiring authoritarian and quasi-authoritarian regimes around the world.

US: What will happen to PBS and NPR stations once they lose federal funding?

CNN: PBS and NPR stations are on the verge of losing the federal funding that has helped keep them on the air for decades.

US: Where Congress’s Cuts Threaten Access to PBS and NPR

The New York Times: President Trump’s proposal to eliminate federal funding for public broadcasters threatens scores of radio and TV stations across the United States that air PBS and NPR programs.

A Chat With BBC Commercial’s CEO on ‘Bluey,’ a News Paywall, YouTube and ‘Doctor Who’

The Hollywood Reporter: Tom Fussell also touts BritBox’s success, particularly in North America, and role in getting series made.

A pressure test for AI: Dow Jones makes a translation push for real-time financial news

Nieman Lab: Dow Jones Newswires launches an AI-powered French language service, following the rollout of Korean and Japanese last year.

Charting myths, debt, and monkey farms: How Kontinentalist is reimagining data journalism in Asia

Nieman Lab: “In Southeast Asia, data can be quite scarce, and it’s often controlled by people in power.”

How EU-focused news outlets are thriving after Brexit

Journalism.co.uk: Brexit created unexpected opportunities for independent European journalism – and some outlets are making it work.

How Iran and Israel control information

Index on Censorship: Two journalists, brought together by conflict, offer their perspectives on how the truth about war is obscured by their own governments.

How YouTube Won the Battle for TV Viewers

Wall Street Journal: A generation that grew up watching YouTubers on tablets and phones have migrated to TVs, and Hollywood is losing ground.

Who Gets to Tell Africa’s Wildlife Stories?

Columbia Journalism Review: A new generation of African filmmakers are pushing for more than just animal stories.

Who Is Watching All These Podcasts?

The New York Times: An audio-only medium spawned a giant industry that is now largely focused on video.