AFGHANISTAN: Broadcaster shuttered after mixed-gender training session

IFJ: Members of the Taliban forcibly closed a privately-owned station in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province after it held a mixed-gender journalism training course.

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BANGLADESH: Bangladesh to replace draconian Digital Security Act with new law

CPJ: [CPJ response] to news reports that the Bangladesh government on Monday announced its decision to replace the draconian Digital Security Act, which has been routinely used to criminalize journalists, with a new law… 

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CAMBODIA: Access to Independent Media Blocked

Human Right Watch: The Cambodian government has issued an order to internet service providers to block access to online websites and social media accounts of three major independent media outlets, Human Rights Watch said today. The government should lift its orders to block access to the three outlets – The Cambodia Daily, Radio Free Asia (RFA), and Kamnotra.

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INDIA: Are AIR’s regional radio channels going to fade away?

The Federal: Discontent is brewing in southern states on the move to shut down regional channels; political leaders, academics and intellectuals have blasted the decision.

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INDIA: Editors Guild of India raises concerns over “draconian provisions” in the new Press Bill

The Leaflet: A Bill that replaces existing legislation which governs the registration of print and publishing industry has been passed by the Rajya Sabha. Concerns are being raised that the Bill is an attempt to curb freedom of press by denying publication of any periodical by persons convicted of “terrorist acts” or “acting against the security of the State”. 

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PAKISTAN: CPJ urges Pakistan lawmakers to reconsider bills that could undermine press freedom

CPJ: Pakistan lawmakers should reject or revise four draft bills likely to undermine press freedom and consult with journalists and other stakeholders in a transparent review process before putting the bills to a vote, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday.

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PAKISTAN: Govt announces withdrawal of Pemra amendment bill

Dawn: Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb on Monday announced withdrawal of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2023 following objections raised by certain stakeholders regarding specific provisions in the proposed legislation.

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SOUTH KOREA: Yoon’s appointments of Lee administration officials spark concerns of backsliding (Korean)

Hankyoreh News: Yoon’s appointees carry the baggage of frictions and controversy that arose while pursuing their policies under Lee Myung-bak.

AUSTRALIA: ABC backed by press freedom advocates amid criticism of Woodside protest coverage

The Guardian: Media union says no one should restrict journalists’ access to a protest after WA premier complains to Ita Buttrose.

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AUSTRALIA: ABC backflips on plan to abolish local 7pm Sunday TV news bulletins after public outcry

The Guardian: Managing director David Anderson says change is due to audience feedback, while another service, program or staff may be targeted for savings

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AUSTRALIA: ABC brings the Garma Festival to all Australians (Press release) 

ABC: The ABC will bring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices, stories and culture from the Garma Festival to all Australians across ABC platforms from 4-7 August.

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AUSTRALIA: Heston Russell defamation case: 2GB pursued ‘culture war’ when criticising ABC stories, court told

The Guardian: Radio broadcaster 2GB engaged in a culture war when repeatedly criticising the ABC’s war crimes reporting, the public broadcaster’s head of investigations has told the federal court.

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AUSTRALIA: Media union outlines dangers of AI on creative industry

IFJ: Australia’s media worker union has made a submission to an Australian Government inquiry raising concerns over potential impacts of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology on the sustainability, working conditions, and creative agency of its members.

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AUSTRALIA: SBS and NITV keeping all Australians informed on the road to a referendum on an Indigenous Voice to Parliament (Press release) 

SBS: SBS is providing unparalleled multiplatform and multilingual news and information across its network as Australians prepare to vote in a referendum on an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

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AUSTRALIA: SBS Audio marks growth of South Asian migration with launch of new Telugu language service (Press release) 

SBS: SBS Audio strengthens language offering for new migrants by launching digital programs in Telugu (used in India) and Bislama (used in Vanuatu) aimed at helping to grow connection and belonging. New services in Malay, Oromo and Tetum go live in September.

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FIJI: AIBD commends the restoration of media freedom in Fiji

Fiji Village: It’s wonderful to see that under the leadership of the new Government, “media freedom” in Fiji has finally been restored and journalists are able to carry out their duties without any restrictions. 

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NEW ZEALAND: Putting right what went wrong with RNZ’s online news (Listen)

RNZ Mediawatch: A review of RNZ’s online news has called for greater oversight and enforcement of standards after a crisis sparked by a single staffer making ‘inappropriate’ edits to international news online.

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NEW ZEALAND: RNZ Asia: Talking to Asian Kiwis

Asia Media Centre: RNZ’s Asia unit is up and running as part of the public broadcaster’s news division. We talk to editor Elliott Samuels on how the new service will speak to NZ audiences. 

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NEW ZEALAND: RNZ Board releases panel findings (Press release)

RNZ: RNZ Board Chairman, Dr Jim Mather, today welcomed the findings of the panel investigating RNZ editorial processes, saying they are accepted in full by the board and all recommendations will be implemented.

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PAPUA NEW GUINEA: PNG woman journalist hit by stray bullet during Moitaka shootout

Asia Pacific Report: Police in Papua New Guinea’s National Capital District are investigating the shooting yesterday of a woman reporter working with the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) Central during an alleged confrontation between police and settlers at 8-Mile in Port Moresby.

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REGIONAL: China is trying to buy influence with media in the Pacific as it aims to strengthen its presence in the region

ABC: Concerns have been raised about foreign influence in Pacific media after it was revealed Solomon Islands’ longest-running newspaper received funding from China in return for favourable coverage.

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REGIONAL: Pacific media should be supported post-covid – researchers

RNZ News: The media sector in the Pacific should be supported with an enabling environment to report “without fear” in the face of ongoing challenges brought about since the covid-19 pandemic, according to a new study.

ALBANIA: Complaints of Unfair Dismissal at Albanian Public Broadcaster

Balkan Insight: Dismissals at Albania’s public broadcaster have raised fresh fears of political meddling following the election of a new director, with a number of those who lost their jobs telling BIRN they were fired unfairly after hasty review by ad hoc commissions.

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ESTONIA: Committee: Cultural Endowment of Estonia may be ERR TV house funding source

ERR: A Riigikogu committee is looking from a legal perspective at potential solutions to finding the required funding for a new TV house to be used by public broadcaster ERR. This may include the use of Cultural Endowment of Estonia (Kultuurikapital) funds.

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GERMANY: Does public service broadcasting need to explain more clearly what it stands for? (Listen – German)

Deutschlandfunk: Dlf listener Till Schauen would like more attitude and differentiation in public service broadcasting. He talks to media researcher Alexandra Borchardt, Dlf-Thüringen correspondent Henry Bernhard and Brigitte Baetz from @mediasres.

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IRELAND: RTÉ Under The Spotlight: Is The Licence Fee On The Way Out?

Hot Press: The Government has promised for years to come up with a new model to replace the TV licence fee supporting public service media in Ireland, but several years down the line no solution appears to be forthcoming.

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ITALY: European Union confirms RAI’s lack of independence

EFJ: The European Commission has just confirmed the state of political dependence of Italian public television RAI. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), together with the RAI journalists’ union Usigrai and the Italian Journalists’ Federation (FNSI), is demanding immediate legislative reform to finally guarantee RAI’s independence.

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KOSOVO: Media freedom groups welcome Klan Kosova court injunction decision

IPI: The International Press Institute (IPI) joins the undersigned international media freedom organisations in welcoming the court injunction staying the revocation of the business licence of Klan Kosova, an important legal ruling which blocks an effort by the government to shut down the country’s largest private television channel.

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NORWAY: Young people’s stories become electives at school (Press release – Norwegian)

NRK: Many young people feel that politics does not concern them. Now NRK and Tenk have joined forces to make this target group better prepared for the municipal and county council elections.

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RUSSIA: Russian journalists in exile feel caught between old and new lives

DW Akademie: In conflict zones, journalists risk their lives to work. In doing so, many are compelled to leave their native countries. Recognizing their psychological challenges is just as crucial as ensuring their physical safety.

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SERBIA: United Media calls for EU action on Serbian media restrictions

Broadband TV News: United Media CEO Aleksandra Subotic has written to the head of the European Union (EU) Delegation to Serbia, Emanuele Giaufret, informing him that, at an event that he attended, N1 and Nova journalists were physically prevented from posing questions.

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SLOVENIA: Up-to-date and comprehensive information on emergency weather conditions on the programs of RTV Slovenia (Press release – Slovenian) 

RTV SLO: Due to the emergency situation, RTV Slovenia has adjusted its program schedule in such a way that, through special broadcasts, the public is updated and comprehensively informed about what is happening throughout the country.

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SLOVENIA: V. d. CEO Andrej Grah Whatmough dismissed. Whatmough Peas: Illegal. (Slovenian) 

RTV SLO: At an extraordinary meeting, the Council of Radiotelevision Slovenia unanimously, with 15 votes in favor, dismissed acting general director Andrej Grah Whatmough. Zvezdan Martić, who has already been appointed as president of the board, will succeed him as acting president.

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SWITZERLAND: Signatures on the halving initiative will be submitted on Thursday (German)

Blick: The SVP wants the SRG to significantly reduce fees with the halving initiative. SRG Director General Gilles Marchand describes the initiative as an “attack on Switzerland and its diversity”. But the opponents are also positioning themselves.

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SWITZERLAND: SRG and the film industry agree on a new “Pacte de l’audiovisuel” (Press release – German)

SRG SSR: SRG is reaffirming its great commitment to Swiss film and is investing additional funds of CHF 34 million per year in the “Pacte de l’audiovisuel”. 

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SWITZERLAND: SRG boss launches fight against halving initiative: “This is an attack against Switzerland” (German)

Blick: In an interview, Director General Gilles Marchand talks about his relationship with Media Minister Albert Rösti, the closure of SRG’s social media channels – and why film funding will be paid even more heavily in the future. 

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UK: Media Nations 2023: Latest UK viewing and listening trends revealed (Press release) 

Ofcom: The media diets of viewers and listeners in the UK appear to be more diverse and fragmented than ever, according to Ofcom’s latest annual report on the TV, online video, radio and audio sectors.

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UK: The Eisteddfod on the BBC for a century – from a violin solo in 1923 to over 180 hours of broadcasting in Boduan in 2023 (Press release) 

BBC: The National Eisteddfod is the biggest outdoor broadcast event of the year for BBC Wales and this year the coverage will reflect the diversity and excitement of the week in Boduan. 

BOLIVIA: Journalists were attacked 60 times in 21 months (Spanish)

El Diario: At the beginning of 2023, when a report was presented to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), 52 cases of attacks against journalists in Santa Cruz were already recorded and, to date, there have been more than 60 cases, reported the court spokesperson of Honor of the APSC, Roberto Méndez.

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GUATEMALA: #VotoConSentido: promoting voting rights through radio

DW Akademie: COMUNICARES, DW Akademie’s partner in Guatemala, launches the #VotoConSentido campaign to encourage citizen participation and the critical use of the right to vote in national elections.

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HAITI: Haitian Journalists at Risk From Arson, Kidnapping, Attack

VOA News: The dangers for journalists in Haiti have escalated in recent months, with killings, abductions, and attacks among the most pressing threats.

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MEXICO: “Transformation of public media in the Mexican BBC is a process and progress has been made”: AMLO (Spanish)

La Hoguera: President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) declared that the transformation of public media to make way for the “Mexican BBC” is not an unfulfilled promise, but a process in which progress has been made, but respecting the content that existed before despite that he is against his government.

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NICARAGUA: Ortega Circumvents Meta “Troll Farms” Are Back in Nicaragua 

Havana Times: More than 1,400 pro-Ortega social media accounts that were deleted in 2021 have been reactivated to distribute propaganda and hate messages in Nicaragua.

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NICARAGUA: The IAPA condemned a new attack against journalism in Nicaragua (Spanish)

IAPA: The Inter-American Press Association (SIP) condemned another attack by the Nicaraguan regime against journalism, after learning of the exile of journalist Marcos Medina and his family, who were prevented from entering the country.

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VENEZUELA: Censorship in Venezuela: Public Space denounced ten cases of violation of freedom of expression during the month of July (Spanish)

Infobae: Among the victims are three media outlets, two journalists, and an indigenous citizen who was forced to apologize to a regime official for a complaint about the burning of equipment used for “illegal mining.”

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VENEZUELA: Closure of radio stations in Venezuela continues as news deserts grow

LatAm Journalism Review: There’s no end to the closure of radio stations in Venezuela. In recent weeks, Radio Caracas Radio (RCR), the oldest radio station in Venezuela, ended its operations on digital platforms, and the radio station Éxtasis 97.7 FM in Táchira, with 29 years on the air, stopped broadcasting after the government administration ordered its closure. 

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REGIONAL: For the first time, public media hold a summit to discuss social challenges and new technologies (Spanish)

UDGTV: The First Ibero-American Summit of Public Media seeks to strengthen collaborative work in the face of global challenges such as climate change, the emergence of new technologies and social conflicts.

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REGIONAL: Inside Latin America’s Fake News Problem

Foreign Policy: Online trolls from both sides of the political spectrum are outfoxing social media platforms.

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REGIONAL: Rising death toll in Mexico, looming threats to Guatemalan democracy and Ecuador’s press freedom

IFEX: As press freedom faces rising threats in Ecuador and extremist anti-press sentiment escalates in Peru, Canada grapples with an unprecedented news blockade by major social platforms. Guatemala’s democracy teeters on the brink amid election uncertainty and attacks against the press, while in Mexico, the grim count of murdered journalists continues to climb.

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REGIONAL: The state of freedom of expression in Central America and the Caribbean: quarterly analysis April-June 2023 (26 July – Spanish)

ARTICLE 19: Given the convulsive panorama that is plaguing the region, the quarterly analysis for April-June highlights the different pronouncements and initiatives of international organizations and local organizations, media, and networks that seek to resist the closure of the civic space, the incessant attempts to dismantle democracies and, therefore, resilience in the face of attacks against press freedom that seek to silence and self-censor the journalistic union in Cuba, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua.

IRAN: Iranian Journalist Brothers Arrested ahead of Reporter’s Day

Iran Wire: Iranian authorities arrested two journalist brothers just days ahead of National Journalist’s Day, local media reported. Mehdi and Majid Nikahd were both taken to an undisclosed location on August 4. There was no immediate information about the reason behind their arrest or the charges they face.

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IRAQ: Iraq government blocks messaging app Telegram over alleged national security fears

JURIST: Iraq’s Ministry of Communications announced Sunday that it had blocked the messaging app Telegram, citing national security concerns. The announcement claimed that this restriction was being enforced to preserve the integrity of users’ personal data, which it said the app had mishandled.

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ISRAEL: Seven Reasons to Worry About Media Freedom in Israel (Analysis – Paywall)

Haaretz: Israel’s Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi is faithfully channeling Netanyahu’s obsession with controlling the media. His new draft bill offers a range of methods, from crude to more sophisticated, to intervene in independent media and dominate public opinion.

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JORDAN: New cybercrime legislation a blow to press freedom

IPI: Despite widespread concerns by rights groups and experts, the Jordanian government is pushing ahead with a sweeping new cybercrime bill that criminalizes the publication of “false news” online and introduces a range of measures that can be abused by authorities to target journalists and critics. 

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PALESTINE: MADA: The escalation of violations against journalists is an indication of the low level of media freedoms in Palestine

MADA Center: MADA is concerned with the significant escalation of violations against journalists in the West Bank and Gaza Strip alike during the past few days. It believes that the escalation of these violations while journalists are carrying out their professional work is only an indication of the low level of the reality of media freedoms which alerts for great fear for the future of freedoms in general and media freedoms in particular.

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TURKEY: Threats to LGBTQ media freedom in Turkey

Global Village Space: Velvele, the Turkish LGBTQ online magazine, courageously confronts censorship and bigotry, amplifying voices and fighting for media freedom.

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TURKEY: Turkey’s media watchdog starts enforcement of 7-day blackout on TELE1

Turkish Minute: The enforcement of a seven-day blackout on Turkish broadcaster TELE1, which was ordered by Turkey’s Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) over its editor-in-chief’s remarks on air about a terrorist leader, has started, Turkish media reported over the weekend.

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TURKEY: Turkish broadcasting watchdog investigates ‘cancellation’ of Ataturk TV series

ABC News: Turkey’s broadcasting watchdog has launched an investigation into claims that streaming service Disney + pulled a series on the country’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the group’s chairman said.

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TURKEY: Turkish Journalists Feel Unsafe Because of Physical, Online Attacks: Report

Balkan Insight: The majority of Turkish journalists say they feel unsafe while doing their jobs because of physical assaults and online attacks, says a new report by Turkey’s Media and Law Studies Association.

CANADA: ‘Disaster’: warning for democracy as experts condemn Meta over Canada news ban

The Guardian: Social media giant Meta’s ban on news access on its platforms in Canada is an “epic miscalculation” that could damage journalism and promote the spread of misinformation and fake news, experts are warning.

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CANADA: Discover CBC/Radio Canada’s Indigenous Connections

CBC News: Welcome to the 2023 National Native Media Conference.

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CANADA: News publishers and broadcasters call for Competition Bureau investigation into news blocking (Press release) 

CBC/Radio-Canada: News Media Canada, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters and CBC/Radio‐Canada (“the applicants”) have applied to Canada’s Competition Bureau to investigate Meta’s abuse of its dominant position, as evidenced by its decision to block news content from its digital platforms in Canada.

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CANADA: Quebec’s indie news outlets fear for survival as Meta shuts out news from Facebook, Instagram

CBC: “In response to Canadian government legislation, news content can’t be viewed in Canada.” That is the message Canadians trying to read the news shared on Facebook and Instagram — owned by Meta — will see more of as the social media giant ends news availability on its platforms.

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CANADA: Statement on the blocking of news content on Facebook and Instagram in Canada (Press release)

CBC/Radio-Canada: Meta’s latest move to deny Canadians access to sources of trusted news and verified information is an unjust and irresponsible misuse of market power, says CBC/Radio-Canada.

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CANADA: The FTQ suspends its advertising purchases at Meta (French)

Le Devoir: The largest labor center in Quebec criticizes Meta for refusing to negotiate fair royalties with the media.

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US: How Joanna Kakissis seeks out ‘intimate looks into people’s lives’

Current: “What sticks with people in the end is a story about another human being and what they’ve gone through,” says Joanna Kakissis.

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US: How the loss of local newspapers fueled political divisions in the U.S. (Watch)

PBS NewsHour: Over the past few decades, more than 2,000 newspapers across the country have closed, leaving many communities without a reliable source of local information. 

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US: ‘I think public media is here to stay’ — IPBS Leader Talks Public Media’s Fairness and Future

WFYI: WNIN’s Tim Jagielo sat down with the IPBS executive Director Mark Newman at the 2023 IPBS conference held Aug 1-2 at the Renaissance Hotel in Carmel, to talk about what IPBS can do for you, the listener.

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US: Jeffrey Goldberg named new moderator of Washington Week (Press release) 

PBS: Sharon Percy Rockefeller, president and chief executive officer of WETA and President of NewsHour Productions, today announced Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor in chief of The Atlantic, as the new moderator of Washington Week. 

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US: Journalism Is a Public Good and Should Be Publicly Funded (Opinion)

Scientific American: U.S. journalism needs to be treated as a “public good” like roads, schools and bridges.

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US: Las Vegas Newspaper Battling to Shield Slain Journalist’s Devices

VOA News: Nearly one year after the slaying of investigative reporter Jeff German, his former colleagues at the Las Vegas Review-Journal say the legal aftermath is raising press freedom issues that threaten to compound the tragedy.

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US: Public Broadcasting Fact Sheet

Pew Research Center: Hundreds of local and regional radio and television stations make up the U.S. public media system.

3 STEPS TO GIVE PROMINENCE TO GENERAL INTEREST MEDIA SERVICES

EBU: The EU has spoken: Member States can impose obligations that ensure general interest media services get prominence, as part of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD). According to the EU, this means media services that support “media pluralism, freedom of speech and cultural diversity”.

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A technical question: Should journalism be designated STEM?

Poynter: When Isabel Bonnet graduated from Columbia Journalism School in May 2022, she was offered two positions — a remote video editor at an American publishing company that owns multiple local newspapers in the country and a internship in London for NBC.

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Automating Democracy: Generative AI, Journalism, and the Future of Democracy (Research) 

Oxford Internet Institute: Sophisticated AI systems are increasingly everywhere. However, 2023 will likely prove to be a particularly critical moment in the history of AI. 

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Do you avoid the news? You’re in growing company. (Paywall)

The Washington Post

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Journalists can help explain climate’s role in extreme weather, even before all the data comes in

Nieman Lab: Even if scientists haven’t confirmed that a particular hurricane, wildfire, or heat wave was made worse by climate change, they know a lot about the big-picture effects of warming on extreme weather events.

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Meta let researchers study whether it stokes polarization. The results were polarizing.

CJR: For much of the past decade, academic researchers have been trying to persuade Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, to share internal data about the behavior of users on its platforms, so that they might understand how—if at all—the sites’ algorithms influence people’s political views and behavior. 

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Meta to ask EU users’ permission to show targeted advertising

The Guardian: Facebook and Instagram’s parent company will stop harvesting audience data to create profiles for advertisers after regulatory rulings. 

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Need to Know: An intro guide to AI

American Press Institute: We’re here to help cut through the noise and share what you need to know about AI as a local journalist. 

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On Podcast … your voice has no limits

UNESCO

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Prospect of AI Producing News Articles Concerns Digital Experts

VOA: Google’s work developing an artificial intelligence tool that would produce news articles is concerning some digital experts, who say such devices risk inadvertently spreading propaganda or threatening source safety.

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The BBC launches its own Mastodon server

Nieman Lab: The BBC has set up an experimental Mastodon server that, for now, hosts a handful of BBC accounts: @BBCRD, @BBC5Live, @BBCRadio4, @BBC_News_Labs, @BBCTaster, and @Connected_Studio. The server — which won’t host outside user accounts — is a way for the British public broadcaster to dip its toes into decentralized social media, at least for the next six months.