In the three years since the fall of Kabul, the Taliban government has smothered Afghanistan’s once thriving media with censorship and intimidation.To mark the August 15 anniversary, Toronto-based Journalists for Human Rights (JHR) released a report by former Afghani journalist Mujtaba Haris that describes the crackdown on journalists and especially female ones. Haris’s report paints […]
Read MoreInstead of taking a summer vacation, many journalists were given a permanent break from their jobs as media executives blamed shrinking audiences for the downsizing. The ongoing decline in the industry leaves a shrinking pool of journalists to inform the public on public-interest issues and to hold powerful interests to account. Some small markets have […]
Read MoreChina attacks free media in Hong Kong as two journalists are sentenced in sedition trial Two journalists from the closed Hong Kong media outlet Stand News have been found guilty of conspiring to publish seditious materials – the first such convictions since Hong Kong’s return to Chinese control – after a trial that was closely […]
Read MoreThe U.S. Department of Justice in September unsealed an indictment that identified two Canadians as being at the centre of an alleged Russian-led disinformation campaign, known as Doppelganger, that is targeting the U.S. Presidential elections in November. Tenet Media – owned by Canadian influencer Lauren Chen and her husband Ian Donovan – is accused in […]
Read MoreAs press freedom goes, so goes democracy. Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects freedom of the press. That’s because Press Freedom ensures citizens can be informed, empowered, and able to participate in the democratic process. But are they informed? In 2024, more than half of the world’s population will have gone to the polls […]
Read MoreOn the night of May 3, Niagara Falls was bathed in a spectacular multi-coloured light show to recognize World Press Freedom Day. The Falls Illumination Board was one of several landmarks and 29 municipalities that shone the colours, issued proclamations or raised the United Nations’ flag to recognize the importance of press freedom. The campaign […]
Read MoreFor years, government media-relations staff have resorted to a dodge that allows them to evade awkward questions from journalists. “For that information, you’ll have to make a request under access to information,” they routinely say. Never mind that the federal act explicitly says the ATI system is “not intended to limit in any way access […]
Read MoreWinnipeg journalist Melissa Martin wins WPFC Press Freedom Award WPFC awarded the annual press freedom prize to Winnipeg journalist Melissa Martin, who took a leave in 2023 in order to live in Ukraine and write personal essays about the impact of the war on civilian populations. WPFC’s career achievement award went to The Globe and […]
Read MoreThe Netanyahu government and Israeli Defense Forces are facing a flood of criticism over the death of an unprecedented number of journalists who were reporting from the war zone of Gaza. In an open letter released on February 29, executives from more than 30 leading news organizations from around the world voiced their support for […]
Read MoreAward-winning American journalist and pro-democracy media critic, Margaret Sullivan, will be this year’s keynote speaker for World Press Freedom Canada’s annual awards luncheon on May 2nd at the National Arts Centre. Sullivan is a renowned columnist for The Guardian’s U.S. edition and the author of Newsroom Confidential and Ghosting the News. She is also the […]
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