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 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 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 MoreJournalists across the country have been threatened, arrested, removed, or denied access by the police while trying to do their job of reporting the news. Journalist Brandi Morin was the latest high-profile case. Morin was arrested on January 10 while conducting interviews at a homeless encampment in Edmonton. The obstruction charges brought were dropped on […]
Read MoreHundreds of journalists across the country may lose their jobs at the end of March with the expiry of a federal program that supports local media. The Trudeau government created the Local Journalism Initiative (LJI) in 2019 to help smaller community news outlets keep their doors open. Funding is due to end on March 31, […]
Read MoreThe latest annual report on the Access to Information Act indicates that journalists are abandoning this vital transparency tool in record numbers. Treasury Board’s 2022-2023 statistics on use of the Act, released Dec. 20, shows that fewer than 10 per cent of general requests filed that year came from members of the media. That’s less […]
Read MoreIn an industry already facing challenges over public trust, the rise of artificial intelligence is adding yet another threat to press freedom. Erosion of public trust creates conditions in which governments and others in authority can more easily restrict media freedom. Last month, the chief executive of The Arena Group which owns Sports Illustrated, was […]
Read MoreWorld Press Freedom Canada continues to be concerned about oversight surrounding the Vancouver Police Department’s treatment of journalists during an operation to dismantle a camp for homeless people. In December, we penned a letter to the Vancouver Police Board, expressing our serious concerns with its quick dismissal of a press freedom complaint against the Vancouver […]
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