
Attacks on journalists will now be treated with the same severity as attacks on police officers, North Macedonia’s Justice Ministry said, presenting draft changes it expects parliament to pass in autumn.

In the wake of the “Pegasus Project” revelation that nearly 200 journalists around the world have been Pegasus spyware targets, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has compiled recommendations for journalists who could themselves be the targets of those who buy this high-performance surveillance software.

More than 180 journalists were discovered in a database of phone numbers designated for potential espionage, thanks to a leak of documents given to the Forbidden Stories journalistic collective and Amnesty International. The choice of targets for surveillance was made by clients of the Israeli company NSO Group, which specialises in the production of spyware that it sells to governments around the world. Its primary product, Pegasus, can compromise a mobile phone, extract all data from it and activate the microphone to record conversations.

The International Press Institute (IPI) today expressed horror at the shooting and serious wounding of Dutch journalist Peter R. de Vries in Amsterdam and urged authorities to do all they can to ensure that all those responsible for both carrying out and possibly ordering the hit do not escape impunity.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is publishing a gallery of grim portraits, those of 37 heads of state or government who crack down massively on press freedom. Some of these “predators of press freedom” have been operating for more than two decades while others have just joined the blacklist, which for the first time includes two women and a European predator.
As the Covid-19 pandemic undermines journalism at a growing pace, the Forum on Information and Democracy is publishing its recommendations under the title A New Deal for Journalism. The report presents a plan to guarantee up to 0.1% of GDP a year into journalism to safeguard its social function for the future.
When I speak about resolving the case of the murdered colleague, journalist Milan Pantić, in this case I find it hard to see the individual as the exclusive executor, and the concrete privatization as a motive for his liquidation. Since 2000s onwards, in all processes of privatization happening in this period of democratic changes, one could see a reflection of the state’s attitude (namely, those of its representatives holding the political power at the time) toward the citizens and society as a whole. Having in mind the predominantly negative undertone of this relation, the question arises whether that particular individual was stronger than the state at the given moment?

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) urges respect for judicial independence in Serbia and Montenegro, where decisions by prosecutors general could prevent justice being rendered in emblematic cases involving two investigative journalists whose reporting has annoyed government officials. The judicial authorities must stand up to political pressure, RSF says.
In March, the Crime and Corruption Reporting Network, a leading investigative news nonprofit in Serbia, was forced to put its stories on hold for two full weeks to deal with a coordinated smear campaign mounted by pro-government tabloids in Belgrade. In an increasingly common and brazen tactic, outlets that support Serbia’s authoritarian president, Aleksandar Vučić, falsely accused the GIJN member,…
New rules part of effort to undermine independent Russian media
Israeli authorities must ensure that security forces do not harm journalists covering protests, and should investigate attacks by police officers and soldiers who shot journalists with rubber bullets, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Collective action needed to stop domino effect of silencing independent media