Latest Freedom of the press News

Algeria pardons and releases journalist who became a key voice during 2019 pro-democracy protests

Nov. 01, 2024 12:32 PM EDT

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Algeria has pardoned a journalist who emerged as a key voice during the country’s 2019 pro-democracy protests and was later imprisoned for taking foreign funding for his media outlets and threatening state security. Ihsane El Kadi was released from prison...

Duterte says he had a 'death squad' as mayor but didn't order killings as Philippine president

Oct. 28, 2024 21:41 PM EDT

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte told a Senate inquiry Monday that he had maintained a “death squad” of gangsters to kill other criminals when he was mayor of a southern Philippine city. Duterte, however, denied authorizing police to gun...

Well-known Cambodian investigative journalist released on bail

Oct. 24, 2024 04:25 AM EDT

TA KHMAU, Cambodia (AP) — A Cambodian investigative reporter who was charged with a criminal offense after exposing online scams and corruption was released on bail Thursday. Mech Dara told reporters from a car outside the Kandal Provincial Prison complex, south of the capital...

Mexican newspaper offices hit by gunfire in Sinaloa state capital

Oct. 18, 2024 19:10 PM EDT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Assailants fired a dozen gunshots at a building housing the newspaper El Debate in the embattled northern Mexico state of Sinaloa, the media outlet said Friday. The newspaper is based in the state capital, Culiacan, where rival factions of the Sinaloa Cartel have...

Prosecutors in Iran target a newspaper over its cartoon mocking internet restrictions

Oct. 18, 2024 10:21 AM EDT

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — An Iranian newspaper implying that the public needed to have the patience of the Biblical figure Job in waiting for President Masoud Pezeshkian to lift restrictions on the internet now faces potential criminal charges. The reported case against the pro-reform...

Burkina Faso’s junta suspends Voice of America broadcasts over coverage of militant violence

Oct. 08, 2024 10:46 AM EDT

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Burkina Faso’s military junta has suspended Voice of America's broadcasts for three months over its coverage of militant attacks in the country and in neighboring Mali, the state news agency reported, in the latest measure targeting media freedom in the country. ...

Mexico's Sheinbaum keeps doing morning briefings, though her style is unlike her predecessor's

Oct. 02, 2024 22:11 PM EDT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico's new President Claudia Sheinbaum started her day Wednesday much like her political mentor, ex-President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, began most of his: with an early morning news briefing from the National Palace. López Obrador's news briefings, known...

A Cambodian reporter who exposed scams charged over online posts

Oct. 01, 2024 11:49 AM EDT

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — A Cambodian investigative reporter who exposed online scams and corruption was charged on Tuesday with a criminal offense that could land him in prison for two years for material he posted on social media. Freelance reporter Mech Dara was arrested...

A Cambodian reporter who investigated online scam centers has been arrested

Sep. 30, 2024 15:12 PM EDT

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodian freelance reporter Mech Dara, noted for investigative reporting in a country with limited press freedom, was arrested Monday, a leading local human rights organization and a journalists association said. Known especially for investigating...

Mexico's populist president held court each morning for 6 years. Now he's retiring from public life

Sep. 29, 2024 21:36 PM EDT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Every day at 7 a.m., President Andrés Manuel López Obrador strolls onto a stage in Mexico's National Palace, clad in a smart suit and tie, and peers out at a room of bleary-eyed reporters and social media personalities. “Buenos días, look alive!” the 70-year-old leader...