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Factsheet Chilling Effect on Freedom of Expression: Regional Human Rights Courts Perspective

Anderson J. Dirocie De León, Juan Manuel Ospina Sánchez, Lautaro Furfaro

Columbia University, Global Freedom of Expression (2025), 14 pp.

"This Factsheet is meant to complement our upcoming book chapter Global Standards on the Chilling Effect: A Comparative Analysis of Case Law from the African, European, and Inter-American Human Rights Systems, by highlighting how regional human rights courts have understood and addressed the chillin ... more

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Zimbabweans support media’s watchdog role, split on whether there is press freedom

Asafika Mpako, Simangele Moyo-Nyede

Afrobarometer (2025), 11 pp.

"Recent Afrobarometer survey findings show that fully two-thirds of Zimbabweans think the media should act as a watchdog over the government, investigating and reporting on government mistakes and corruption. A similar proportion value media freedom and reject the notion that the government should b ... more

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Vulnerable Media, Struggling Democracy: A Critical Appraisal of Uganda’s Media Legal Framework

African Centre for Media Excellence (ACME) (2025), 38 pp.

"This report presents an in-depth examination of Uganda’s media legal and regulatory framework, with a particular focus on its implications for press freedom, democratic engagement, and the overarching vitality of the media sector. The findings reveal a disconcerting trend: although constitutional ... more

National safety mechanisms for journalists: Combatting impunity and strengthening national structures for the prevention, protection and prosecution of crimes committed against journalists, media workers and social media producers

Daniel Brini

Paris: UNESCO (2025), 18 pp.

"Twenty-nine (29) countries are implementing fifty-six (56) national mechanisms for the safety of journalists, media workers and social media producers. Over two thirds of operational national mechanisms implement measures in at least two of the safety areas – prevention, protection or prosecutio ... more

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Free Expression Seen as Important Globally, but Not Everyone Thinks Their Country Has Press, Speech and Internet Freedoms: Made-up news and information seen as pervasive across the globe
Deep Insights

Jacob Poushter, Maria Smerkovich, Moira Fagan, Andrew Prozorovsky

Pew Research Center (2025), 71 pp.

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Critical analysis of media discourse and the politics of self-censorship in Afghanistan

Abdul Wahab Rahimi, Zakir Shah, Jianping Lu

Discourse & Communication, volume 19, issue 4 (2025), pp. 676-697

"This study analyzes the role of discursive strategies in the politics of self-censorship in Afghanistan, where political pressure, and independent media work together, and language plays a crucial role in implementing these strategies. Critical Discourse Analysis is used to explore the connection b ... more

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Democratic Decline, Economic and Political Pressures, Urgency for Reforms. The Future of the Media in Turkey – Facts and Trends

Sinem Aydinli

Sarajevo; Istanbul; Ljubljana: Mediacentar; Bianet; Peace Institute; South East European Network for Professionalization of Media (SEENPM) (2025), 39 pp.

"The state of the media and democracy in Turkey faces critical challenges that hinder freedom of expression and pluralism, due to restrictive legal frameworks, economic instability, and cross-ownership in the media sector. Although digitalization has transformed news consumption, the government’s ... more

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M20 Johannesburg Declaration: Media Summit urges global prioritisation of information integrity for the public good

M20 Media Integrity; South African National Editors' Forum (SANEF); Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) (2025), 11 pp.

"Our call on media and civil society – as well as other stakeholders such as independent information regulatory bodies and business entities, to act on: Information integrity -- Artificial Intelligence -- Media viability -- Safety -- Women and media -- Children, young people (teenagers) and margin ... more

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El periodismo nicaragüense está vivo

Julio López (ed.)

Bogotá: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), FES Comunicación (2025), 73 pp.

"En este libro, 12 periodistas nicaragüenses exiliados relatan sus historias y su pasión por el periodismo. A pesar del dolor, el desarraigo y la separación familiar continúan su labor informativa, denuncian las agresiones contra la prensa y los abusos a los derechos humanos. Además, presenta u ... more

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Even before wartime restrictions, Sudan media faced weak public backing for press freedom

Caroline Nakayiza, Doreen Okisai

Afrobarometer (2025), 12 pp.

"This dispatch looks at Sudanese citizens’ attitudes regarding media freedom as of late 2022, i.e. during the period between the military coup and the beginning of the civil war. Afrobarometer survey findings show that Sudanese were divided both in their support for media freedom and in their asse ... more

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Pakistani Journalism Under Pressure In A Tightly Restricted Political Environment, Safety Threats and Internet Shutdowns: Press Freedom and Media Safety in Pakistan in 2024

Karachi: Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) (2025), 24 pp.

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Changing Media Landscape, Same Persistent Problems. The Future of the Media in Albania – Facts and Trends

Ilda Londo

Sarajevo; Tirana; Ljubljana: Mediacentar; Albanian Media Institute; Peace Institute; South East European Network for Professionalization of Media (SEENPM) (2025), 33 pp.

"Analysis of media in Albania and mapping of main trends through credible, regular, and complete data is a problematic endeavour. However, the data available show that it is safe to say that challenges for professional journalism remain formidable in Albania. Full formality of the media market has n ... more

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More Media, Rising Challenges for Journalists. The Future of the Media in Montenegro – Facts and Trends

Milica Bogdanovic

Sarajevo; Skopje; Ljubljana: Mediacentar; Montenegro Media Institute; Peace Institute; South East European Network for Professionalization of Media (SEENPM) (2025), 34 pp.

"Since the change of the long-standing DPS government in mid-2020, Montenegrin society has faced political crises. Frequent election cycles and instability in ruling majorities have affected the speed and quality of Montenegro’s integration into the EU, the work and functioning of institutions, an ... d the general social and political environment. After the reconstruction of Montenegro’s 44th government, anti-democratic and anti-European tendencies emerged. These tendencies are reflected in the advocacy for legislation aimed at changing the constitutional order regarding language and citizenship, suppressing criticism from the civil sector, and undermining relations with neighbouring Croatia, an EU member state. This has been accompanied by a decline in trust in key political institutions and an overall unsatisfactory political culture. Although several international studies monitoring the state of democracy, the rule of law, corruption perception, and media freedoms show progress compared to previous years, the current situation in media and journalism is not encouraging. In recent years, institutions have attempted to strategically address the media sector through the adoption of a Media Strategy and amendments to media laws. However, these regulations have not adequately addressed some of the key issues affecting the media landscape, such as media ownership transparency, strong foreign influence in media ownership structures, unregistered portals, and the fight against disinformation. Additionally, they have not implemented new European regulations in this area, indicating that media laws will need to be revised again. The significant increase in the number of media outlets in Montenegro has not led to greater media pluralism or improved journalistic standards. The media market is small, and the launch of new outlets lacks economic justification. The media scene is heavily influenced by foreign actors, predominantly from Serbia. Owners from Serbia control four out of five television stations with national frequency, and two out of three daily newspapers are foreign-owned. These media outlets inevitably influence public opinion and are used to expand political influence, which affects the quality of media reporting and threatens the survival of locally owned media outlets. Year after year, the amount of public funds allocated to media outlets through the Media Pluralism Fund has increased, which is important for their sustainability. The Agency for Electronic Media and the Ministry of Culture and Media distribute the funds transparently, but mechanisms for evaluating the quality of financed projects need to be established. The national regulator, the Agency for Electronic Media, has improved its communication with the public. Recent amendments to the law have expanded its jurisdiction, enabling it to impose measures of varying intensity. While it remains responsible only for electronic media, there is clear potential for the agency to develop into an independent and professional regulator that consistently applies regulations. Current self-regulatory mechanisms in Montenegro’s media sector are not effective, but there is potential for further development in the new amendments to the law. These amendments require media outlets to develop internal self-regulation if they wish to receive funds from the Media Pluralism Fund. Implementing this legal provision must be accompanied by raising awareness among media and journalists about the importance of strong self-regulation. This will help citizens recognize self-regulation as an independent authority capable of improving the quality of reporting and providing a reliable platform for submitting complaints." (Conclusions, pages 28-29) more

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Freedom of Expression and the Law in Russia: Asymmetrical Information

Mariya Riekkinen, Mariya Riekkinen

Oxford: Routledge (2025), 170 pp.

"This book discusses how Russia’s legal system restricts freedom of expression. As the author analyses legal amendments restricting the free flow of information since 2012, she draws upon Akerlof’s framework of “Asymmetrical information” and Luhmann’s “System Theory” to show how these ... more

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MFRR Slovakia Mission report: Growing Media Capture, Rising Disinformation and Threats to Safety of Journalists

Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) (2025), 15 pp.

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Europe Press Freedom Report 2024: Confronting Political Pressure, Disinformation, and the Erosion of Media Independence

Jean-Paul Marthoz (coord.)

Strasbourg: Council of Europe; Safety of Journalists Platform (2025), 68 pp.

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Our Media, Our Democracy, Our Future. The Future of the Media in the Western Balkans and Turkey – Facts and Trends. Regional Overview
Deep Insights

Sanela Hodžic, Sandra B. Hrvatin

Sarajevo; Ljubljana: Mediacentar; Peace Institute; South East European Network for Professionalization of Media (SEENPM) (2025), 57 pp.

"The results of the research conducted in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Turkey suggest that the key determinants for the future of our media and democracies are the following: • The poor socio-economic status of journalists and their exposure to ... pressure and attacks, coupled with modest support mechanisms, cripple the ability of journalists to promote the public interest, report on key issues of public interest, and hold power to account. In the most extreme cases, the pressure involves imprisonment, interrogation, surveillance, and lawsuits aimed at silencing journalists. • The lack of consistent monitoring and registration of cases of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP) in the region, with dozens of lawsuits against journalists filed by political officials and their affiliates. • A growing number or media outlets, but a declining number of journalism students, highlighting concerns about the future shrinking of staff numbers in media newsrooms and about the growing automatization of journalism. The most drastic drop was in North Macedonia, with the number of journalism students in 2023 amounting to only 11% of the number from ten years ago and 50% of the number from 2000. • The number of media outlets is growing, mostly in the online sector, while print media outlets are becoming increasingly endemic. • A worrying trend of overt concentration of media ownership in the hands of a few media conglomerates, often tied to national or foreign governments, that takes a toll on media freedom and pluralism. • The dominant instrumentalization (through ownership and funding) of media (including private and public) for particular political and/or business interests limits the space for editorial independence and integrity. • Non-profit media are still a rarity in the region, with only a few non-profit radio broadcasters in some countries, and an unknown number of online platforms of civil society organizations with a community-focused mission. • Lack of transparency of the media sector, particularly a lack of accessible and reliable information concerning the media industry and the media market. • Advertising is the main source of revenues in the media sector, with the total revenues ranging between EUR 12 million in Montenegro and over EUR 4 billion in Turkey. • Although it is declining, the TV sector is still dominant in terms of its share of advertising revenues, while social media’s share is increasing, and in Turkey it amounts to as much as 45.7% of advertising revenues. • The tech giants such as Google and Meta are an increasingly dominant competitor for media outlets in the region, jeopardizing the future sustainability of national and local media outlets and potentially curbing political pluralism in public communication. • Public funding for the media, including funding of public broadcasters (declining in four out of seven countries), grants, and subsidies for media outlets and government advertising, amounts to several to dozens of millions of euros per country, taking up an important share of media revenues, but without proactive transparency, effective guarantees of editorial independence, well-defined purpose and evaluation, the opportunities to make public funding for the media an important instrument of media democratization remain under-used. • The representation of different age, gender, ethnic, religious, and other groups in media content and in the newsrooms’ staff is limited. In multiethnic communities some policies promote ethnic diversity of media content, while other identity axes are largely neglected and pluralism in public communication is very limited. Women are an important, and in many countries even dominant, workforce in the media, but remain underrepresented in managerial posts." (Executive summary) more

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Media Capture Monitoring Report: Overview. The European Media Freedom Act: The solution to Capture or Just Fine Print?

Zsuzsa Detreköi, Marius Dragomir

Vienna: International Press Institute (IPI); Media Journalism Research Center (MJRC) (2025), 30 pp.

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Emaswati support media’s watchdog role, insist on media freedom

Asafika Mpako, Stephen Ndoma

Afrobarometer (2024), 12 pp.

"According to the most recent Afrobarometer survey, in late 2022, Emaswati broadly agree that the media should act as a watchdog over the government, exposing government missteps and wrongdoing. Citizens value media freedom and reject the notion that public information should be the exclusive preser ... more

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Länderkurzinformation Afghanistan: Informationslage

Nürnberg: Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge (2024), 6 pp.

"Die beschriebene Quellenlage stellt auch für die Länderanalyse eine Herausforderung dar. Afghanische Medien geben einen guten Überblick darüber, wie die Taliban sich präsentieren möchten. Auch neue Verordnungen und Erlasse der Zentralregierung sind so nachvollziehbar. Dies gilt jedoch nicht f ... more

Free Expression Seen as Important Globally, but Not Everyone Thinks Their Country Has Press, Speech and Internet Freedoms: Made-up news and information seen as pervasive across the globe Deep Insights

Our Media, Our Democracy, Our Future. The Future of the Media in the Western Balkans and Turkey – Facts and Trends. Regional Overview Deep Insights

Free Expression Seen as Important Globally, but Not Everyone Thinks Their Country Has Press, Speech and Internet Freedoms: Made-up news and information seen as pervasive across the globe
Deep Insights

Our Media, Our Democracy, Our Future. The Future of the Media in the Western Balkans and Turkey – Facts and Trends. Regional Overview
Deep Insights