Focus on Turkey: Arbitrary Arrests and Abuse of the Legal System
The precarious state of press freedom in Turkey, entwined with a deteriorating democratic environment, poses significant challenges to journalists. Increasingly they face arbitrary arrests, legal threats, and increasing violence in their pursuit of reporting truth. In response to these threats, the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA), our partner, actively defends press freedom and human […]
Digital Rights Advocates: Interview with Zambian Lawyer Michelle Mwiinga
Welcome to the Digital Rights Advocates Blog Series, where we hear from lawyers litigating digital rights in sub-Saharan Africa. Digital rights have become indispensable for people around the world to exercise and enjoy their fundamental rights. Independent media is increasingly moving online โ from established newspapers and television channels to bloggers and human rights activists […]
Partners: How Human Rights Platform Has Used Strategic Litigation to Defend Press Freedom in Ukraine
Since 2017, Media Defence has worked in partnership with the Human Rights Platform (HRP), to provide legal defence to journalists and independent media in Ukraine and conduct strategic litigation on press freedom and freedom of expression. During the grant period, threats and attacks against journalists in Ukraine remained high. In particular, HRP noted an increase […]
Partners: Hanifi Baris of TOHAV on Defending Press Freedom in Turkey
Welcome to the latest instalment of our โPartnersโ blog series. In this series, we interview some of our partners from around the world about their crucial and fascinating work in freedom of expression. This time, our Legal and Grants Officer Emmanuel Vargas spoke to lawyer Hanifi Baris of TOHAV (Toplum ve Hukuk Araลtฤฑrmalarฤฑ Vakfฤฑ/Foundation for […]
Freedom of Expression in Eastern Europe: Hungary and Poland
Three journalists, two small tables and a coffee machine tucked away inside a building in downtown Pecs, Hungary. This is the bare-bones set-up of Szabad Pecs, a website that bills itself as the only independent news source in southwest Hungary. Their newsroom is sparse because itโs all they can afford. In recent years, the government […]
Partners: Interview With an Anonymous Azerbaijani Lawyer
Welcome to the second instalment of our ‘Partners’ blog series. In this series, we interview some of our partners from around the world about their crucial and fascinating work in freedom of expression. In Azerbaijan, there has been an ongoing crackdown against media freedom for many years. The constant harassment, intimidation and legal prosecution of […]
Partner impact: IJCโs work in Moldova
MLDIย supports the work ofย 11ย partners around the world, helping them to fightย 228 cases last year alone.ย Since 2010, MLDI has funded theย Republic of Moldovaโsย Independent Journalism Centerย (IJC), which provides free legal advice to media outlets and journalists, and legal representation to around 10 media clients each year. Moldovaโs 4 million citizens get the news from a wide range […]
โI will do everything in my power to bring back freedom of expression to my countryโ
In 2009, Macedonia cameย 34thย in the World Press Freedom Index. In 2015, it was rankedย 117th. With the mainstream media controlled by the government and journalists fearful of being sued by politicians,ย MLDI’sย support is more vital than ever. Through our partnership with the Media Development Centre, over the last year we’ve helped leading media lawyerย Filipย Medarskiย defend 40 defamation cases. […]
Focus On: Kyrgyzstan
“Since the beginning of the year, Kyrgyzstan has witnessed violations, by state officials, of the constitutional right of citizens to freedom of expression, as well as of the right to freely look up, receive, store, use and disseminate information. On the other hand, another characteristic feature of this period is the cooperation of authorities and […]
Biased rulings in defamation cases
Defamation may have been decriminalised in Macedonia in 2012 โ removing the threat of a prison sentence โ but journalists are still cautious about writing critical stories. They can still get sued for defamation and they face the possibility of paying extortionate damages. In one of the poorest countries in Europe, where the few remaining […]
Focus on: Press and Net Freedom in Russia
โAlthough our Constitution provides for freedom of speech and freedom of the press, the Russian media does not consider itself free, being very much pressured by authorities, harassed, convicted for practicing their profession. Parliament is introducing new limitations to media freedom and freedom of expression almost on a weekly basis to silence oppositional voices and […]
Focus On: The Philippines
โThe conviction rate for murderers of journalists is just 1 per cent, which means that assassins get away with it. They often enjoy protection from powerful people, and policemen lack the resources to go after them.โ The Philippines has a vibrant media scene. A wide variety of views are aired by newspapers, radio and television […]