AFGHANISTAN: Hamisha Bahar network closed by Taliban for including women in journalism training

IPI: The IPI global network strongly condemns the closure of independent broadcaster Hamisha Bahar by the Taliban after authorities raided the outlet during a journalism training that included women journalists. 

---

AFGHANISTAN: Taliban Arrests Two Journalists, Bans Women On Radio In Southern Afghanistan

RFE/RL: Two more journalists have been arrested by Taliban authorities in southern Afghanistan, where women’s voices were also barred from radio broadcasts.

---

BANGLADESH: Press freedom impossible without democracy, says BNP

New Age: The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party said on Monday that freedom of the press was impossible in a society where democracy was absent.

---

CHINA: Associated Press CEO meets with Chinese state media ahead of China-led propaganda-fest World Media Summit

Taiwan English News: President and CEO of Associated Press, Daisy Veerasingham, met with President of Xinhua News Agency, Fu Hua, in Beijing Sunday, August 13, and said that AP is open to discussions with Xinhua on news exchanges ahead of the 5th World Media Summit later this year, Chinese state media outlet Xinhua reported.

---

CHINA: Chinese state media drums up support for country’s AI development initiatives, but maintains caution about its risks and need for regulation

SCMP: Chinese state media is drumming up support for generative artificial intelligence (AI) development in the country, extolling its potential to help drive economic growth and become a useful daily tool, while maintaining caution about its risks and asserting regulation of the technology.

---

HONG KONG: Hong Kong pro-democracy advocates have part of convictions quashed

The Guardian: Seven of Hong Kong’s most prominent pro-democracy advocates have had part of their convictions quashed by Hong Kong’s court of appeal, over their roles in one of the biggest pro-democracy protests in 2019.

---

INDIA: Slate of new laws a major threat to India’s press freedom

IFJ: India’s parliament has passed legislation that threatens to increase government surveillance, undermine freedom of information, and impact press freedom. 

---

INDIA: Will the Sony-Zee Merger Be a Turning Point in Indian Media, or Another Milestone in the Decline of Linear TV?

Variety: The Indian media landscape has been jolted by two largely expected, but nevertheless seismic, events in recent days — and aftershocks look inevitable.

---

INDONESIA: KPI urges broadcasting agencies to air more child-friendly programs

Antara: Chairperson of the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI), Ubaidillah, has urged TV and radio stations to increase the broadcasting frequency of child-friendly programs, whose airtime is currently witnessing a decline.

---

INDONESIA & WEST PAPUA: Indonesian media favours govt voice on West Papua, new research finds

RNZ: News media in Indonesia act as “government loudspeakers” by advancing a one-sided narrative regarding the conflict in West Papua, a new study reveals.

---

MALAYSIA: Government authority blocks news outlets ahead of state elections

IFJ: Malaysian online news portals UtusanTV and MalaysiaNow have been blocked by authorities ahead of critical state elections. 

---

PAKISTAN: Prominent Local Journalist Killed in Pakistan

VOA: Pakistani authorities are investigating the shooting death Sunday of a prominent local journalist in the southern Sindh province.

---

TAIWAN: PTV Children’s Annual Event “2023 FUN’s Powerful Parent-child Sustainability Party” kicks off (Press release – Chinese) 

PTS: The “2023 FUN Parent-child Sustainability Party with Great Abilities” sponsored by PTV will debut today (4th), and will be held at Youliao Warehouse in Zhongxing Cultural and Creative Park, Yilan from August 4th to 6th.

---

THAILAND: Thai PBS opens its home to welcome PPCIL5 students to drive innovation in public media policy. (Press release – Thai) 

Thai PBS: Thai PBS opened its home to welcome 80 students from the 5th generation of Public and Private Leaders Program (PPCIL) to study at the Public Broadcasting Organization of Thailand or Thai PBS in 4 key areas. 

---

REGIONAL: A new platform monitoring press freedom in Southeast Asia

Global Voices: Seven Southeast Asian media organizations have launched pfmsea.org, a joint platform to monitor press freedom across the region.

AUSTRALIA: ABC clears Four Corners TV crew of wrongdoing during protest at Woodside CEO’s home

The Guardian: Broadcaster’s managing director says crew did not collude with Perth protesters but corrects earlier claim they had no knowledge of action

---

AUSTRALIA: ABC Ombudsman Six-month Report (Press release) 

ABC: The ABC Ombudsman, Fiona Cameron, today released her first public report outlining complaint statistics and a new complaint process.

---

AUSTRALIA: ABC Radio Australia relaunches with a comprehensive suite of Pacific-focused programming (Press Release) 

ABC: ABC Radio Australia has launched a new-look schedule and more than tripled the amount of Pacific-focused content available to audiences across the week. 

---

AUSTRALIA: David Anderson says ABC will abandon the majority of Twitter accounts

ABC: The ABC’s managing director, David Anderson, has announced the public broadcaster is reducing its presence on X (formerly Twitter) to only four accounts.

---

AUSTRALIA: Elon Musk accuses Australia’s ABC of embracing censorship after it shut down Twitter/X accounts

The Guardian: Elon Musk has accused the ABC of embracing censorship after Australia’s public broadcaster drastically reduced its presence on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

---

AUSTRALIA: Release of detained Australian journalist Cheng Lei won’t be a condition for Beijing visit, prime minister says

ABC: The Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says a letter from detained Australian Cheng Lei is “moving”, but her release from detention won’t be a condition on him visiting Beijing.

---

FIJI: FBC to hold a blood drive

FBC: The Fijian Broadcasting Corporation will be organizing a blood drive as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility initiative to give back to the community.

---

NEW ZEALAND: 531pi acknowledged for 30 years of service at Pacific Music Awards

PMN: A rousing applause rang throughout the Due Drop Events Centre at the Pacific Music Awards following Radio 531pi’s Special recognition award for 30 years of service to Pacific music. 

---

NEW ZEALAND: NZ On Air and RNZ confirm funding for Local Democracy Reporting (Press Release) 

RNZ: The Local Democracy Reporting scheme will be funded for an additional year by NZ On Air and RNZ, due to its significant contribution to supporting regional journalism.

---

TIMOR LESTE: Calls for commitment to public television independence

IFJ: Timor Leste’s newest government should defend the country’s public broadcaster Rádio e Televisão de Timor-Leste (RTTL) and its vital role as a voice of democracy in the region. 

AUSTRIA: How much mandatory licence fees could bring Austria’s public broadcaster

The Local: After a court decision last year made TV and radio fees mandatory for everyone, Austria’s ORF public broadcaster is projecting about an extra €35 million in its budget every year.

---

AZERBAIJAN: Wave of Dismissals and Resignations at Azadliq Radiosu

Council of Europe: Over the past two years, four journalists have been fired and three others have resigned at Azadliq Radiosu, the Azerbaijani service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL).

---

BELARUS: Three Years on From Contested Election, Belarus at New Low for Free Press, Speech

VOA News: ‘No end in sight’ to Belarus crackdown on independent voices, say media analysts.

---

BULGARIA: Bulgaria’s PM, broadcast regulator chief tangle over disinformation

The Sofia Globe: Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov and the head of the country’s broadcast media regulator, Council for Electronic Media (CEM) chief Sonia Momchilova, have exchanged verbal fire after Denkov accused CEM of not doing its job in failing to penalise journalists who spread fake news.

---

BULGARIA: Bulgarian government urged to engage fully in defence of press freedom

RSF: Reporters Without Borders (RSF) welcomes the Bulgarian parliament’s adoption of measures combating abusive lawsuits and defending access to information, and calls on the ruling coalition to go further with the adoption of systemic measures in defence of press freedom in accordance with RSF’s other recommendations.

---

FRANCE: Fight Back VR at the UN & Games for Change festival (Press release – French) 

FTV: Fight Back is a virtual reality experience that introduces women to self-defense. On July 17, Céline Tricart spoke at the Games and SDG Summit to talk about virtual reality and its potential for social impact. At the same time, and again during this half-day, the work was presented to more than 200 leaders from the video game industry, universities and NGOs.

---

GERMANY: ARD to drop SD distribution on Astra in 2025

Broadband TV News: German public broadcaster ARD will terminate the SD distribution of its TV channels via the Astra satellite system (19.2° East) at the beginning of 2025.

---

GERMANY: NRW local radios: Crisis despite success (German – Listen)

Deutschlandfunk: The local radio stations in North Rhine-Westphalia together make up the most-listened-to radio program in all of Germany, with almost 1.3 million listeners per average hour. And yet some local radio stations are threatened existentially. According to information from Deutschlandfunk, several locations in the Ruhr area are to be closed at the same time. Possibly just the beginning of a major transformation process.

---

IRELAND: New €1bn public service media fund proposed by People Before Profit

The Irish Times: People Before Profit has said it would scrap the licence fee and remove all commercial advertising from RTÉ which it believes should be funded instead with €500 million annually in public money.

---

NETHERLANDS: Violence against Netherlands’ journalists dims a beacon of press freedom (7 August)

CPJ: De Vries’ killing was the most serious attack on journalist safety in a country where press freedom has long been taken for granted. In today’s Netherlands, journalists covering protests have been attacked by demonstrators – and occasionally detained by police — and face a torrent of online harassment. 

---

NORWAY: Norway’s NRK taps Appear for DVB and OTT distribution

Digital TV Europe: Technology outfit Appear has teamed up with Norway’s public broadcaster NRK, to expand and upgrade its media delivery platform.

---

POLAND: RSF responds to the Polish minister who attacked it over a statement defending media independence

RSF: Minister of Justice Zbigniew Ziobro has misunderstood the concerns of Reporters Without Borders (RSF) about his attempt to impose a political agenda on Polish media. The organisation, which defends the freedom, pluralism and independence of journalism, asks the media authority KRRiT to reject the minister’s legally unfounded and politically motivated complaint against the TVN and TVN24.

---

RUSSIA: Kremlin Falsely Accuses West of Censoring Media Over War

VOA: At a youth forum near the Moscow region last week , Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov claimed that Western media take orders and “professionally prepared falsehoods” from intelligence services.

---

SPAIN: 19,871 hours of information, 468 films… the numbers of RTVE in 2022 (7 August – Spanish)

El Confidencial Digital: RTVE has finished publishing the 2022 Report , a document detailing the figures for the service they have offered throughout that year and detailing all the figures for the past year. 

---

SPAIN: The PP was going to announce a new organization chart on TVE with Eladio Jareño and Ramón Camblor at the top (Spanish)

El Confidencial Digital: The changes were going to be made public on August 14 if Feijóo achieved a majority to reach La Moncloa.

---

SWEDEN: Now SVT Play can also be reviewed for objectivity and impartiality (Press release – Swedish)

SVT: All SVT’s programs on the internet can now be tested for objectivity, impartiality and feedback. This after the government decided on new content conditions for SVT’s Play service.

---

SWEDEN: The management of SVT is changing (Press release – Swedish)

SVT: Eva Beckman has been appointed program director with responsibility for all program offerings at SVT. It is happening in connection with Jan Helin, program director, moving on to a role within the Bonnier Group. Division manager Andreas Bedinger will also leave SVT for an assignment in business.

---

SWITZERLAND: ‘SWIplus’ app to strengthen political participation of the Swiss Abroad (Press Release)

SWI: Around 10% of the Swiss population lives abroad and has specific information needs and media usage habits. They primarily seek information online and appreciate news and background reports on national events in various languages.

---

UK: BBC enhances speed performance on iPlayer 

Digital TV Europe: UK pubcaster BBC has announced it has launched new enhancements to its video-on demand service BBC iPlayer to boost speed performance for content delivery. 

---

UK: Many adults would struggle to understand video-sharing platforms’ rules – kids have even less chance. (Press Release) 

Ofcom: Today’s report Regulating Video-Sharing Platforms (VSPs) lifts the lid, for the first time, on how easy it is for people to access, use and understand the terms and conditions set by six platforms: BitChute, Brand New Tube, OnlyFans, Snapchat, TikTok and Twitch.

---

UKRAINE: Ukrainian Journalists Document ‘Putin’s Playbook’, Hoping for Future Justice

Balkan Insight: Ukrainian journalists haven’t only been reporting on everyday attacks by Russian forces in their country – some have also been collecting evidence and testimonies about war crimes to build a wider picture of the Kremlin’s violent strategies.

---

REGIONAL: Media Freedom in South-East Europe Faces Escalating Digital Threats

Balkan Insight: BIRN’s latest monthly review of digital violations in south-east Europe highlights how Turkey and Croatia are grappling with digital censorship and the threat of increased government control, while across the Balkans, journalists face escalating problems online.

ARGENTINA: The IAPA is concerned about legislative initiatives in two provinces of Argentina (Spanish)

IAPA: The Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) expressed concern about legislative actions promoted by the provincial governments of Salta and La Rioja, in Argentina, to penalize, in one case, the dissemination of false news and, in another case, the other, to propitiate a constitutional reform that could affect freedom of expression and of the press.

---

BOLIVIA & URUGUAY: The IAPA asks to protect Bolivian and Uruguayan journalists threatened by a drug trafficker (Spanish)

Swissinfo: The Inter-American Press Association (SIP) condemned this Thursday the threats against journalists and media outlets in Bolivia and Uruguay, in retaliation for their coverage of the case of a well-known drug trafficker, and asked the authorities ensure the safety of those affected.

---

BRAZIL: Brazil has an 8.6% reduction in news deserts in 2023, but local journalism needs encouragement (Portuguese)

Atlas of the News: For the first time since the survey began in 2017, fewer municipalities are considered deserted than cities that have at least one journalistic communication vehicle serving their population.

---

COLOMBIA: Alert in La Guajira against threats to journalists in the middle of the electoral campaign (Spanish)

El Tiempo: In a billboard they are given 24 hours to leave town.

---

COLOMBIA: FLIP calls on Petro to be a guarantor of freedom of expression and information (Spanish)

Swissinfo: The Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP) on Monday called on Colombian President Gustavo Petro to be a guarantor of freedom of expression and to allow the flow of journalistic information.

---

COLOMBIA: Ombudsman warns about violence against women journalists (Spanish)

Infobae: According to the most recent report from the Foundation for Press Freedom ( FLIP), a journalist is threatened every two days in Colombia and in 70% of the country at least one social communicator has been intimidated.

---

ECUADOR: The crusading journalism of Ecuador’s assassinated presidential candidate

CJR: Recently, Martín Pallares was looking back on WhatsApp messages he’d exchanged with Fernando Villavicencio. The two men had come up through Ecuador’s journalistic circles in the eighties and had kept in touch; years later, both would be critical of Rafael Correa, Ecuador’s press-bashing populist president from 2007 to 2017. 

---

EL SALVADOR As free press withers in El Salvador, pro-government social media influencers grow in power

The Independent: An expanding network of social media personalities is amplifying and echoing President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador.

---

EL SALVADOR: The Association of Journalists of El Salvador denounced the criminalization of the profession by Nayib Bukele (Spanish)

Infobae: The Association of Journalists of El Salvador (APES) denounced this Thursday the criminalization of the journalistic profession by the Salvadoran president, Nayib Bukele, actions considered” one more step towards the consolidation of a police and dictatorial state.”

---

GUATEMALA: Two journalists die after an attack with firearms in Retalhuleu (Guatemala) (Spanish)

Infobae: The Guatemalan National Civil Police (PNC) has reported that two journalists have died this Friday night in the department of Retalhuleu after an attack with firearms, as reported by the Guatemalan newspaper ‘La Hora’.

---

HONDURAS: “Violence has been established against critical voices, against journalists” (Watch – Spanish)

VOA: In a co-production of the Voice of America and VTV, Honduran journalist Amada Ponce talks about freedom of information and expression in her country. She has 17 years of experience in digital journalism and social investigation and is the director of C-Libre, a medium specialized in freedom of expression.

---

HONDURAS: Report without Fear condemns smear campaigns and threats by ZEDE owners to the journalistic team (Spanish) 

Reportar Sin Miedo: The Reportar Sin Miedo team condemns all the attacks and threats against our independent digital media that appeared on social networks after the publication of the series “Los secretos de Próspera”.

---

JAMAICA: RJRGLEANER Group Registers Loss In First Quarter

Radio Jamaica News: For the three-month period, a $37.8 million loss was realised, reflecting a marginal improvement compared to the $39.8 million loss registered in Quarter 1 last year.

---

MEXICO: From a pothole to working conditions: this is why journalists are murdered in Mexico (Spanish)

Radio Fórmula: Alejandra Ibarra explained that if one investigates the work carried out by murdered journalists, what they did does not always fall under what is considered “high-risk journalism.”

---

REGIONAL: Artificial intelligence and big data are challenges for public television in Latin America (Spanish)

Swissinfo: Data management, artificial intelligence and the digital divide are some of the challenges for public television stations that are transforming their content and the way they reach their audiences, he told EFE on Tuesday the president of the Ibero-American Educational and Cultural Television Association, Gabriel Torres.

IRAN: Journalists’ Day Held in Iran Amid Jailing of Reporters

VOA: Iran marked Journalists’ Day on Tuesday against the backdrop of several prominent reporters who remain behind bars.

---

IRAQ: Authorities must immediately reverse media ban on the terms “homosexuality” and “gender”

Amnesty International: Responding to the directive issued by the Iraqi Communications and Media Commission (CMC) that media outlets must replace the term “homosexuality” with “sexual deviance” in their published and broadcast language, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa Aya Majzoub said: “The directive from Iraq’s official media regulator is the latest in a series of attacks on freedom of expression under the guise of respect for “public morals”. 

---

IRAQ: ‘Tomorrow it will be you’: A dark future for press freedom in Iraqi Kurdistan

The New Arab: With politically motivated charges and show trials, the Kurdistan Regional Government has intensified its crackdown on activists and journalists to silence dissent, as new restrictions come into play.

---

LEBANON: Government Shuts Down Tele Liban, Lebanon’s Public Television

Media Power Monitor: The closure of Tele Liban raises concerns about the future of the station and its ability to continue serving as a public broadcaster.

---

SAUDI ARABIA & UK: Vice blocked news stories that could offend Saudi Arabia, insiders say

The Guardian: Vice has repeatedly blocked news stories that could offend the Saudi government, leaving its reporters unsure if they are still able to report freely on the kingdom’s human rights abuses, sources have said.

---

SYRIA: Syrian reporter and three soldiers killed in roadside bombing: State media

Al Jazeera: A Syrian reporter and three Syrian government soldiers have been killed in the country’s southern Deraa governorate in a roadside bombing, according to Syrian state news agency SANA.

---

TURKEY: Echoing its battles in Florida, Disney circles a Turkish maelstrom

Coda Story: Turkey’s broadcasting regulation agency announced last week that it was opening an investigation into Disney after the beleaguered company decided to pull a TV series about the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, from its streaming platform Disney+.

CANADA: Conrad Black: Canada needs a strong and unbiased public broadcaster (Opinion – Paywall)

National Post: What would be appropriate would be a substantial increase in funding for the CBC

---

CANADA: Meta’s removal of Canadian news impacting Indigenous media and communities

CBC: The owner of an independent digital news outlet serving Indigenous communities in Atlantic Canada says she’s scrambling after Meta’s decision to remove Canadian news from its platforms.

---

CANADA: Satirical news implicated in Meta ban (Watch) 

CBC: The Beaverton’s editor-in-chief details the implications of Meta banning the site’s satirical news content. Plus, provincial reaction to the federal clean electricity plan.

---

CANADA: VIKINGS – A podcast produced in collaboration with public radio stations in northern Europe (Press release – French) 

Radio-Canada: Starting tomorrow, Radio-Canada OHdio invites you to dive into a mythical universe with VIKINGS. The concept for this podcast was created by Sveriges Radio , Sweden’s public radio.

---

CANADA: Why advertisers in Canada are pulling out of Instagram and Facebook

Mashable: Canadian advertisers are leaving Meta to boycott the company’s ban on news posts. Stingray Group announced on Tuesday that it will “immediately suspend” all advertising on Facebook and Instagram in Canada.

---

US: A small town in Kansas is at the heart of a fight for press freedoms (Opinion)

Poynter: The Marion County Record is a small, family-owned newspaper in Marion, Kansas — about 60 miles north of Wichita. It has seven employees and a circulation of about 4,000.

---

US: Behind PBS Kids’ Gaming, Podcasting and Streaming Expansion Amid Kids Industry Cutbacks (2 August) 

The Hollywood Reporter: SVP and General Manager Sara DeWitt on the free kids’ programmer going big on content, what makes that possible and why storytelling beyond TV is so key to PBS Kids’ strategy.

---

US: Digital Transformation, DEI And Jumping From The Plane: PBS’s CEO Paula Kerger Shares Her Leadership Lessons

Forbes: Paula Kerger, PBS’s longest-serving president and CEO, recently received a powerful reminder about the fandom for the nation’s largest non-commercial media organization.

---

US: Kansas Police Condemned Over Newsroom Raid

VOA: The police raids Friday of a local Kansas newspaper’s office and the home of its owner have stunned news organizations around the United States, who are widely condemning the incident as a violation of the First Amendment.

---

US: PRX accelerator adds podcasts on inside story of ‘Barney,’ Cincinnati’s sewer system to development slate (Paywall) 

Current: The third cohort of PRX’s Journalism Podcast Accelerator includes projects from five public media organizations.

---

US: The Right Way to Fix Public Broadcasting (Opinion)

The Messenger: The kabuki theater of Washington budgeting has again featured the lightning-rod issue of public broadcasting. Last month, a House Commerce subcommittee voted to zero-out funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), whose funds go to NPR and PBS; just six days later, its Senate counterpart voted to maintain the funding. 

---

US & RUSSIA: US Ambassador Says American Journalist Jailed in Russia ‘Remains Strong’

VOA: The U.S. ambassador to Russia on Monday was able to meet with Evan Gershkovich, an American journalist detained in a Moscow jail.

5 note-taking apps for journalists

IJNet: Journalists often work under tight deadlines and need convenient ways to map out their ideas and stories. 

---

9 in 10 LGBTQ journalists face abuse and harassment, report finds

Journalism.co.uk: LGBTQ journalists face high levels of online abuse targetting their sexual orientation and gender identity, with little support from their employers.

---

Advice for adopting Threads and other new social platforms

IJNet: Social media is now one of the primary ways people receive their news, causing journalists to rely on social media to reach larger audiences and new readers.

---

Climate journalists need persistence to get good data, including from governments

Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism: In April 2022, a sudden change in the weather pattern was observed in Pakistan: temperatures were rising rapidly. Here, summer usually begins in May, but last year, it arrived weeks early. 

---

Doing internal work to improve newsrooms in ways readers may never hear about

Poynter: Newspapers are not particularly known for moving swiftly (except when it comes to news coverage), and those who’ve worked in legacy newsrooms for a long time know that the pace of internal change can be glacial.

---

How to respond to disinformation spread on social media

IJNet: Disinformation can be extremely harmful during an election: it can confuse voters, dissuade them from voting, delegitimize results, and more. 

---

How well do you understand AI? Here are 7 terms to know

Poynter: You might have heard about machine learning and algorithms. But do you know what read teaming and watermarking are?

---

Registration now open for UNCOVERED 2023 (Event)

ECPMF: Returning for a fourth year, UNCOVERED is the annual conference of the IJ4EU programme and an opportunity for you to network with and learn from Europe’s leading cross-border investigative journalists. 

---

Seven sources of free images for journalists

Journalism.co.uk: Most journalists rely on pictures to bring stories to life. However, it is often hard to find high-resolution images of people and places that do not cost the earth.

---

The Local-News Crisis Is Weirdly Easy to Solve

The Atlantic: Zak Podmore did not bring down a corrupt mayor. He did not discover secret torture sites or expose abuses by a powerful religious institution.