Journalism

This toolkit for judicial officials in Africa on international and regional standards on freedom of expression "encompasses a broad variety of issues, which should be considered by judi-cial actors in the course of their work to protect human rights. It covers legal standards of freedom of expression according to international and regional instruments and core texts and surveys pertinent jurisprudence on freedom of expression from regional and sub-regional courts or quasi-judicial bodies that deal with human rights issues.

The toolkit explicates conditions under which speech can be legitimately restricted, while also giving prominence to the safety of journalists and the issue of impunity, the latter representing one of the main obstacles to guaranteeing freedom of expression and freedom of information. Finally, the toolkit also addresses recent challenges to freedom of expression on the internet, including on social media, which have become vital means for sharing information and expressing views. The question of gender representation in media content and careers, and gender-specific threats for women journalists, are also addressed.The protection of freedom of expression requires the active efforts of a great variety of actors. While this toolkit has been conceived primarily for judges, prosecutors, trainers of judges, lawyers and other legal experts, it is my hope that civil society actors, members of security forces and media professionals will also find its contents of great value to their work. Given the importance of freedom of expression as a foundational value of free societies, I believe the toolkit’s material and messages will be of relevance to all concerned stakeholders — that is to say, to all individuals everywhere."

Civil Liberties Union for Europe released its fourth annual report, Liberties Media Freedom Report 2025. Based on the data provided by 43 partner organizations, the report covers the state of media freedom and pluralism, the safety of journalists, freedom of expression and access to information, and relevant legislation across 21 EU Member States. One of the main findings is high media ownership concentration (in Croatia, France, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden). As the EU is approaching the stage of enforcement concerning its key press-related laws, the report calls on the EU bodies to cooperate with civil society and urges national authorities to ensure the proper transposition of the European Media Freedom Act and the Anti-SLAPP Directive into national legislation.

Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) published its annual Europe-focused report documenting press freedom violations in the EU Member States and nine candidate countries between January and December 2024. MFRR recorded a total of 1,548 press freedom violations with 2,567 entities or media professionals involved. The 359 of those violations were online attacks – a significant increase from 266 such cases recorded in the previous year. Legal attacks against journalists also occurred more frequently: 319 cases concerning 556 media workers or organizations. MFRR described demonstrations and protests as “among the most dangerous environments for journalists in 2024”: more than 50% of the 271 protest-related press freedom violations documented were physical attacks on reporters – with police or state security forces often being the perpetrators.

In this segment of the MOOC 'International and African Legal Framework on Freedom of Expression, Access to Information and the Safety of Journalists' developed by the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria with the support of UNESCO, Frank La Rue explains international standards on safety of journalists (specifically, prevention, protection and procurement of justice).   

This segment is part of Module 3 of the MOOC: The safety of journalists and the issue of impunity.

Amnesty International published the English translation of its report, originally released in Spanish, on online gender-based violence against journalists in Argentina. The study documents digital violence targeting gender-diverse and women journalists from 2018 until 2024, evaluating the impact on freedom of expression in the country. Based on 36 interviews and 403 survey responses, the report found that almost two-thirds, or 63.5%, of the respondents had experienced digital violence in the past six years. Isolated attacks or insults make up 98.3% of the cases, followed by harassment or trolling, sexual harassment or threats of sexual violence, and threats of physical violence. In more than half of the cases, coverage of abortion was the trigger, followed by reporting on femicides, gender-based violence, and human rights. Almost half of the respondents said they self-censored on social media. For more on online gender-based violence against journalists, revisit Dávila v. National Electoral Council, a landmark decision from the Colombian Constitutional Court.

“In this briefing, ARTICLE 19 builds on [its previous] work and examines how three dominant social media companies – Facebook, Twitter and Youtube – have responded to calls to address various forms of gender-based harassment and abuse in their community guidelines and practices. However, ARTICLE 19 is very mindful of the wider context of the problem of online gender-based harassment and abuse and the role of other players in the wider Internet ecosystem, such as private messaging services. The briefing first examines what are the responsibilities of the major/ dominant social media companies under human rights standards and how they implement their responsibilities in their community guidelines and practices. The briefing highlights the positive and negative aspects of these tools and approaches, and provides recommendations for improvement.”

The report, released by Nigeria-based Media Rights Agenda (MRA), evaluates the first two years of Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s presidency through the lens of media freedom in Nigeria. As threats to freedom of expression multiply – ranging from repressive laws and arrests of journalists to surveillance and censorship – the report documents media freedom violations by type of attack and perpetrator, non-compliance with the Freedom of Information Act, and misuse of the Cybercrime Act. Drawing from empirical evidence, legal and policy trends, and case studies, the report concludes by offering recommendations.

This report produced by UNESCO provides an assessment of the achievements and best practices derived from the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity over the last decade, and it offers recommendations to combat emerging challenges going forward. The UN Plan of Action for the Safety of Journalists arose out of a multi-stakeholder process to strengthen “peace, democracy and development worldwide” as part of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The UN Plan seeks to “create a free and safe environment for journalists and media workers online and offline and both in conflict and non-conflict situations.” The report details the results of the consultative process in 2022 which included “five regional and sub-regional consultations (for Africa, South Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Arab States and Europe), two thematic consultations (on the safety of women journalists, on risk management and transparency of digital platforms), and a crosscutting academic consultation [which] brought together governments representatives, civil society organizations, academia, journalists, news organizations, IGOs and tech companies.”

PowerPoint Presentation created by the Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights. This presentation is used by the Office in their training sessions. It addresses the Inter-American human rights system, explains the mandate of the Office of the Special Rapporteur, and refers to the jurisprudence and standards on: prohibition of prior censorship, prohibition of desacato laws, proportionality of subsequent liability, prohibition of indirect restrictions on speech, access to information and violence against media workers. .

The Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) concluded 2024 with a report on the further erosion of media safety and freedom of expression in the country. The PPF has documented patterns of violence against journalists – targeted killings, abductions, arrests, physical assault, intimidation, and legal harassment. As waves of protests swept across Pakistan after the February 2024 election, disputed by the opposition, attacks on the media followed, while effective action on the part of the authorities did not. From January until December 2024, the PPF recorded at least 162 attacks on journalists and media workers. They include two killings, 72 assaults, and four abductions, among others.