AFGHANISTAN: Taliban Restrictions On Journalists & Media Continue, Says UN

Afghanistan International: UNAMA says the Taliban continued restricting media freedom through journalist detentions, media suspensions and broadcasting limits, documenting measures against Radio Bamyan, Lawang Radio and Rah-e-Farda TV.

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HONG KONG: IFJ calls for independent review of practices at BBC Hong Kong bureau

IFJ: The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has expressed serious concern over the dismissal of five journalists at the British Broadcasting Corporation’s (BBC) Hong Kong bureau following years of alleged bullying and reports of pressure on BBC staff over their participation in the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA), an affiliate of the IFJ.

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INDIA: Who is afraid of radio? India must allow more journalism on the airwaves

The Indian Express: India has embraced private television, newspapers and digital media. Why does it still not trust one of its oldest, cheapest and most democratic forms of journalism?

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NEPAL: Stress on restructuring of telecommunications service, public media

Radio Nepal Online: The Ministry of Information and Communications has decided to advance restructuring of telecommunications services, public media institutions and digital good governance with effective enforcement of the budget.

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JAPAN & NORTH KOREA: Concerns increasing over radio for abductees in North Korea

Japan Times: The Japanese support group broadcasting the program is calling for an increase in the transmitters, operated by NHK, so that it can continue the program, which started in 2005.

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PAKISTAN: Al Jazeera Web Inaccessible in Pakistan amid Govt’s outrage over ‘Biased’ Kashmir Election reporting

Daily Pakistan: Pakistan’s public criticism of Al Jazeera’s reporting on elections in Pakistan-administered Kashmir was followed by restrictions on broadcaster’s English website, triggering fresh concerns over media freedom and online censorship.

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SOUTH KOREA: KBS Brings In-House AI Platform, KAIROS, to “The Seasons – Sung Sikyung’s Ear Candy” (Press release)

KBS: KBS has successfully introduced its in-house AI platform, KAIROS, into the production of “The Seasons – Sung Sikyung’s Ear Candy,” one of its flagship music talk shows. The move marked the first use of multimodal AI search by a Korean broadcaster during the production of a television program.

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SOUTH KOREA: South Korea wrote a fact-checking code into law. Korean fact-checkers are wary. 

Poynter: In South Korea, anyone who believes an online post is false can now report it. The company that hosts the post must then decide whether the complaint is valid.

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TAIWAN: Despite significant budget cuts, PTS Board of Directors issues statement to strongly defend its operations. (Press release – Chinese)

PTS: We are aware that the Legislative Yuan is currently reviewing the 2026 government budget. To date, legislators have proposed cuts and freezes exceeding NT$1 billion in donations to Public Television Service (PTS), nearly half of the government’s total donations.

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TAIWAN: Taiwan’s PTS warns budget cuts could cripple programming

Taiwan News: Taiwan’s Public Television Service Board of Directors and Supervisors on Wednesday warned that proposed budget cuts and funding freezes by the legislature could seriously undermine public broadcasting, local film, and civil society.

AUSTRALIA: Big tech companies that fail to strike deals with Australian media to face higher levy 

ABC: The government has increased the levy for tech companies that fail to strike content deals with Australian news organisations from 2.25 to 2.5 per cent of ad revenue.

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AUSTRALIA: Incentives for tech giants to pay for journalism (Listen) 

ABC: A new scheme to ensure social media companies pay for the journalism published on their platforms is closer to being finalised.

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AUSTRALIA: Media leaders say social media disinformation destroying Indigenous debate

ABC: ABC chair Kim Williams was among a panel at the Garma Festival who agreed that Indigenous debate had soured badly since the failure of the Voice referendum in 2023.

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AUSTRALIA: More than 80% of kids still using social media despite ban, new eSafety report finds

The Conversation: As countries around the world look to follow Australia’s lead in restricting young people’s access to social media, a new report by the eSafety Commissioner might give them reason to pause, at least temporarily.

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AUSTRALIA: The $67 million journalism fund claim against Labor — and what the facts show 

SBS: Claims that the federal government is using taxpayer money to bankroll media outlets for favourable coverage have spread online, sparking debate about press independence.

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AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND: The jury’s out on social media bans. Here’s a better idea NZ can borrow from Australia

The Conversation: Protecting young people from the harms they can experience online is clearly important. But with so much focus on a possible social media ban for under-16s, there is also a risk of sidelining better solutions.

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FIJI: Fiji Advances Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems Through National Dialogue on Common Alerting Protocol 

UNDP: The National Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) Workshop and National Dialogue on Fiji’s Multi-Hazard Early Warning System – a key step towards implementing Fiji’s Multi-Hazard Early Warning System Roadmap and strengthening national resilience to climate-related and natural hazards – brought together government agencies, telecommunications providers, broadcasters, technical experts, development partners and key stakeholders.

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REGIONAL: Are social media algorithms killing Pacific news? (Blog) 

DevPolicy: Facebook is strangling Pacific journalism, with some news organisations losing up to 70% of their audience almost overnight.

ALBANIA: Cumulative pressure on media freedom and civic space demands urgent action

IFJ: The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins the 10 co-signatories of this appeal in condemning the escalation of brutal repression against journalists and civil society in Albania.

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AUSTRIA: Broadcasting lawyer: ORF should apply for a higher ORF contribution. (German) 

Der Standard: So that he can take action against the “EU and constitutionally questionable” cut of €93 million in federal funding. Foundation board member Dobusch sees the director general as having a responsibility.

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AUSTRIA: Results of the large online survey “ORF asks” 2026 (Press release – German) 

ORF: The Austrian population seems satisfied but not very optimistic: wars and conflicts in the world, the state of democracy, the advancing climate change and the lack of cohesion in society are currently causing the greatest concern.

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BELGIUM: VRT, DPG Media, Mediahuis, and Play Media are producing a podcast together for the first time in honor of Antwerp Pride. (Press release – Dutch) 

VRT: For the first time , VRT, DPG Media , Mediahuis , and Play Media are joining forces for a joint podcast.

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FRANCE: Audiovisual: “Public service broadcasting has a unique responsibility: to ensure universal access without denying the diversity of audiences.” (Paywall – French) 

Les Echos: Faced with the fragmentation of audiences, the public audiovisual service has a responsibility to rebuild a “media commons” essential to the proper functioning of a democracy, argues Stéphane Sitbon-Gomez, deputy director general of France Télévisions, after the controversies of the parliamentary inquiry commission.

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FRANCE: In France, a local newspaper was massively bought by elected officials to cover up a rape case (France) 

RFI: In France, L’Essor Savoyard was  the victim of a rare tactic. The weekly newspaper from Annecy, a city of 128,000 inhabitants in eastern France, saw its sales jump by 50% on June 4th. This success was far from insignificant: the front page of the newspaper reported on an investigation into rape allegations against the newly elected first deputy mayor.

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FRANCE: Xenia Fedorova, columnist accused of being the “voice of the Kremlin,” is targeted by an expulsion order. (French) 

RFI: Xenia Fedorova, former director of the Russian propaganda channel RT (Russia Today), which was shut down in 2023 following European sanctions imposed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, was served with a ministerial deportation order on Wednesday, July 29, 2026, the French Interior Ministry told AFP. 

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GEORGIA: European public broadcasters congratulate Tinatin Berdzenishvili on re-election as GPB Director General (Press release) 

1TV: Leaders of European public broadcasters have congratulated Tinatin Berdzenishvili on her re-election for a second term as Director General of the Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB), wishing her continued success, fresh achievements, and fruitful endeavours in advancing public service media.

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GERMANY: “Constitutional Court sees public broadcasting as indispensable for democracy” (German) 

Welt: What should we make of the constitutional complaint filed by ARD and ZDF against the suspended increase in the broadcasting fee? Constitutional law expert Degenhart dissects the special circumstances of this public broadcasting funding dispute.

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GERMANY: “Leipzig Appeal for the Freedom and Independence of the Media” (Statement – German) 

MDR: The initiative MRD launched unites numerous institutions from media, science, culture, and society, which together send a strong signal in support of free and independent media and unrestricted access to information as cornerstones of our democracy.

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GERMANY: Public broadcasters without a safety net (Column) 

TAZ.de: If the AfD wins in Saxony-Anhalt, it intends to terminate the Interstate Broadcasting Treaty. The public broadcasters are left unprotected – with one small exception.

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HUNGARY: Hungary’s media reckoning: how Péter Magyar is tearing down Orbán’s propaganda empire (Paywall) 

The EU Observer: No news in public-service media is abnormal. But what is happening now is the dismantling of an authoritarian regime, a media expert said.

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IRELAND: TG4: RTÉ is a monopoly and government is breaching EU media freedom law 

The Ditch: The Irish government is breaching EU media freedom law and RTÉ “is a monopoly” – according to TG4. The Irish-language public service broadcaster has urged Coimisiún na Meán to intervene to secure the “editorial independence of Nuacht TG4”.

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MALTA: Public broadcasting must belong to the public (Editorial) 

The Malta Independent: The latest controversy surrounding PBS has once again brought an old debate back to the surface.

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MOLDOVA: Shadow Report on the State of Media Freedom in the Country

Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso : Media freedom, European integration, and reform processes in Moldova are the main themes of the recent shadow report published by the Independent Journalism Center (IJC) in collaboration with OBCT and ActiveWatch

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RUSSIA: New law expands the Kremlin’s legal persecution of exiled journalists

RSF: Bank accounts frozen, consular services blocked… On 24 July, the Russian parliament unanimously adopted a new law targeting Russians in exile who have been designated as “foreign agents” or who cooperate with organisations labelled “undesirable” — and the vast majority are journalists.

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SLOVAKIA: “Hello, this is Bratislava.” Tune back a hundred years to the first broadcast of Slovak Radio (Paywall – Slovak) 

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SLOVENIA: If the RTV contribution is abolished, the payment slips will disappear, but not the costs. (Slovenian) 

Maribor24: A consultative referendum on the RTV contribution is scheduled to take place in October, where voters will decide whether to abolish the 14-euro contribution.

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SLOVENIA: SNS and DNS fear that stopping media tenders will lead to layoffs (Slovenian) 

RTV SLO: The Slovenian Journalists’ Union (SNS) and the Slovenian Journalists’ Association (DNS) regret the decision of the Ministry of Culture to stop calls for co-financing of journalists’ salaries and annual digital subscriptions.

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SPAIN: Fight against disinformation amid devastating fires in Spain (Spanish) 

Swissinfo.ch: In the midst of the fight against devastating fires in Spain, citizens are feeling anger and pointing to forest clearing or the installation of solar panels as the culprits, which forces another battle, this time against misinformation.

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UK: BBC Entertainment Savings (Press release) 

UK: BBC Content has a target of delivering a minimum of £100 million of recurring annual savings

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UK: BBC Media Action appoints new trustees in support of impact growth (Press release) 

BBC: Eight new trustees with more than 200 years of combined experience in global philanthropy, media, technology and business sectors appointed

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UK: BBC Weather to become more digital and local (Press release) 

BBC: BBC Weather is setting out plans to make its services even more digital and local, responding to audiences’ increasing use of digital platforms for weather forecasts.

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UK: Local media needs support if devolution push is to succeed, publishers say

The Guardian: Shift from Westminster risks weakening scrutiny as regional titles battle hostility, big tech and ‘news deserts’

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UK: Nation’s media habits revealed in annual Ofcom report (Report) 

Ofcom: A new report from media regulator Ofcom reveals that UK audiences are now just as likely to turn to Netflix as they are the BBC when deciding what to watch, highlighting the ongoing battle for viewers’ attention.

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UK: Watch this space: a new strategic direction for UK media – green paper and public consultation (Open consultation) 

Government of the United Kingdom: At its best, our media provides the basis of a cohesive country and a healthy democracy. It has the power to advance shared understanding, shared facts, and shared experiences which help people trust and understand one another.

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UKRAINE: From Hypothesis to Publication: Representatives of Local Teams from Suspilne Ukraine Have Learned Investigative Journalism (Press release) 

Suspilne: Topics, working with open data and OSINT tools, verifying information, formulating hypotheses, fact-checking, and storytelling-journalists from Suspilne Ukraine local teams honed their skills in conducting investigative journalism.

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REGIONAL: “The future of Europe’s media freedom is determined in Central and Eastern Europe” (Interview) (22 July)

Global Freedom of Expression: In this new edition of Portraits of FoE (Freedom of Expression) Defenders, Pavol Szalai discusses threats to media freedom in the region stretching from the Baltics to the Balkans—from Russian disinformation and SLAPPs to crimes against journalists and state efforts to undermine the independence of public media.

GAZA: Al Jazeera abruptly terminates contracts of Palestinian journalists in Gaza in ongoing Israeli genocide 

Asia Pacific Report: Reporting on Israeli bombardments and firing continues to be extremely dangerous for Palestinian journalists, who are completely cut off from the world. It is at this point which media giant Al Jazeera reportedly abruptly ended the contracts of 24 journalists in Gaza it had employed, breaking earlier alleged promises of job security with the channel.

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IRAN: Radio host works to unite divided Iranian diaspora (Watch) 

NHK World: The massive Iranian community in America finds itself increasingly divided over US actions in Iran. A LA-based Persian-language radio host is listening to heal the divide.

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IRAN: State TV dispute exposes limits of oversight in Iran 

Iran International: Iran’s state broadcaster has ignored a formal order from its own watchdog to stop censoring senior officials, highlighting the gap between the country’s formal institutions and where authority is exercised in practice.

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LEBANON: Continuing his visits to media institutions, Marqos calls for an end to the interference with public media. (Arabic) 

Akhbar Al Yawm: Information Minister, Attorney Dr. Paul Morcos, sent a letter to the relevant authorities, requesting “a halt to the jamming of Radio Lebanon and the taking of necessary measures to address the problem, in order to ensure the continuation of broadcasting in a sound manner.”

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REGIONAL: Media Freedom Coalition Statement on the situation of journalists in the Middle East region, in light of the regional escalation (Statement)

MFC: The undersigned members of the Media Freedom Coalition express their deep concern for the safety of journalists and the repercussions for access to information in the Middle East, in light of the regional escalation. The safety of journalists and media workers, and the access to information are under serious threat.

CANADA: Ottawa plans to end ‘Netflix tax,’ replace with public Canadian content funding: document 

CBC: The federal government will “eliminate” the financial contribution requirement for streamers set by the CRTC and replace it with government funding, it said in a court document.

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US: Collaborations and primary elections boosted traffic to public media sites this quarter

Nieman Lab: The first piece that contributed to the bump was a story about the Trump administration shutting down the country’s premier bee lab.

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US: How Donald Trump Silenced the Voice of America (Paywall) 

The New Yorker: The agency was created to spread the story of freedom and democracy around the world. Now, with many of its journalists being paid to stay home, it’s delivering a very different message.

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US: Public media needs to show that it still matters after childhood (Opinion) 

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US: Readers turned to these local newspapers for real-time safety updates and weekend reads 

Nieman Lab: Deliberate audience initiatives and breaking news alike have driven traffic to local newspapers in the last few months.

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US: Trump’s Nominee to Oversee V.O.A. Suggests Return of Journalists on Leave (Paywall) 

The New York Times: The statement by the nominee, Sarah B. Rogers, signaled a stark reversal of the president’s earlier efforts to shutter Voice of America and other federally funded news groups.

As the climate worsens, media coverage is falling (Listen) 

ABC: A new study found coverage of the topic decreased by 14 per cent in 2025 compared to 2024.

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Building trust: how MFC members are training police to better protect journalists

MFC: Governments can support media freedom not only through public commitments, but through practical measures that help journalists do their work safely.

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How three newsrooms are charting different paths for AI use

Nieman Lab: In our recent research, we examined how three different media outlets — Reuters, the BBC, and The Guardian — were deploying AI in their workflows.

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Media coverage of environmental disasters doesn’t come with a content warning. It’s time for change

The Conversation: Since South Australia’s toxic algal bloom started to kill millions of marine organisms in March 2025, the media has been filled with images of dead and suffering coasts, plants and animals.

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The RTBF news presenter really breakdances on air? (French) 

RTBF: A news anchor on RTBF suddenly breaks into breakdancing on her presentation desk: the sequence is intentionally absurd, but it aims to illustrate the new challenges posed by artificial intelligence-generated content.

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Young people like journalism, just not enough to consume it 

The Argument: Young people are weirdly chill about the media