Journalists’ group ‘dismayed’ by treatment at Beijing Winter Olympics

Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China says reporters tailed and manhandled by security despite assurances from Games officials

Reporting conditions for journalists covering the Beijing Winter Olympics fell short of international standards despite assurances from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Foreign Correspondents’ Club (FCCC) of China has said.

The club said it was “dismayed” that at a time when global attention was trained on China more than ever the government and Olympic officials still failed to uphold their own rules on accredited foreign media. Instead “government interference occurred regularly during the Games”, both inside and outside venues, when journalists tried to interview athletes and local residents.

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Greta stands with Sami and Navalny on trial again: human rights this fortnight – in pictures

A roundup of the coverage of the struggle for human rights and freedoms, from Myanmar to Mexico

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Vietnamese activists routinely placed under house arrest, report finds

Authorities regularly detain environmentalists, rights campaigners and dissidents to prevent them travelling or attending events, says Human Rights Watch

The Vietnamese government is routinely placing activists under arbitrary house arrest, employing tactics including stationing guards outside their homes, setting up roadblocks nearby and using superglue and padlocks to jam their doors shut, according to a report.

The study by Human Rights Watch (HRW) documented cases involving 170 rights activists, bloggers, dissidents and their family members who were prevented from domestic and international travel between 2004 and 2021. The real number of those affected is likely to be higher, the report warned.

Those targeted had worked on various issues, from land rights and environmental activism, to advocating for media freedom and the rights of political prisoners, to participating in anti-China protests.

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Editor arrested in Kashmir as press crackdown escalates

Journalist Fahad Shah detained on Friday under terrorism and sedition laws in disputed Indian region

A prominent journalist has been arrested under terrorism and sedition laws, as a crackdown on the press in Indian-administered Kashmir continues to escalate.

Fahad Shah, the founder and editor of the widely read local news website The Kashmir Walla, was arrested on Friday evening when he was summoned to a police station in the southern district of Pulwama.

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Russia to expel German broadcaster after RT blocked in Germany

Deutsche Welle boss says retaliation by Moscow, including closure of its bureau, is ‘total overreaction’

Russia is to expel the German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) in retaliation for a German ban on broadcasts by Russia’s RT.

The foreign ministry said the press credentials of DW’s correspondents would be revoked, its bureau in Russia closed, and its German-language broadcasts would be banned from Russian satellite television in the near future. It said this was the first stage of its “retaliatory measures”.

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‘We’ll keep reporting, whatever the risk from the junta,’ say Myanmar’s journalists

To avoid arrest, the staff of the 74 Media left their home city, only to face shellfire in their border refuge. The editor describes the risks faced by his media outlet

Shweeeee … Boooom. The noise of the exploding artillery shell startled me awake in the middle of a July night. Dazed, I stumbled out of bed and tried to check on the other journalists with whom I share a dormitory. As we ran outside, another shell flew overhead.

It was five months after the military takeover in Myanmar and three months since we had been forced to relocate from the Kachin state capital, Myitkyina, to territory held by a group known in Myanmar as an ethnic armed organisation (EAO), fighting for self-determination for an ethnic minority state near Myanmar’s border with China. Now this territory was being bombed. We were all terrified; some of my staff were crying as they looked to me for guidance and comfort.

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Foreign journalists in China subject to rising intimidation, survey finds

Report says heightened dangers have prompted at least six to leave and many others to develop emergency exit plans

The Chinese government is finding new ways to intimidate foreign journalists, their Chinese colleagues and their sources, and harassment has reached such a high level that at least six have left the country, according to a key report.

The methods include online trolling, physical assaults, hacking and visa denials, as well as what appears to be official encouragement of lawsuits or threats of legal action against journalists, “typically filed by sources long after they have explicitly agreed to be interviewed”.

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Kill the Bill and period protests: human rights this fortnight – in pictures

A roundup of the coverage of the struggle for human rights and freedoms, from Cambodia to Costa Rica

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‘We fought the good fight’: journalists in Hong Kong reel from assault on media

Newsroom closures and exodus from territory are result of ‘draconian’ national security law introduced in 2020

As the last news programme came to a close and anchors bade farewell to their online audience on 3 January, Chris Yeung, the founder and chief writer of Citizen News, gathered together his staff and tried to strike an optimistic tone.

“Remember our very best memories,” he said, dressed in a blue shirt with sleeves rolled up and a crimson jumper draped on his shoulders. “No one knows what will happen next. Don’t worry. Just remember the happy things.”

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Desmond Tutu’s funeral and Kazakhstan clashes: human rights this fortnight – in pictures

A roundup of the coverage of the struggle for human rights and freedoms, from Mexico to Hong Kong

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I had death threats and my tires slashed for my reporting. Many journalists in the Pacific face huge dangers | Joyce McClure

Freedom of the press might be included in some constitutions of Pacific countries, but it often only works in theory

I spent five years as the lone journalist on the remote Pacific island of Yap. During that time I was harassed, spat at, threatened with assassination and warned that I was being followed. The tyres on my car were slashed late one night.

There was also pressure on the political level. The chiefs of the traditional Council of Pilung (COP) asked the state legislature to throw me out of the country as a “persona non grata” claiming that my journalism “may be disruptive to the state environment and/or to the safety and security of the state”.

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Hong Kong court denies bail to ex-editors after raid on news outlet

It comes as US secretary of state calls for release of Stand News editors, saying ‘journalism is not sedition’

A Hong Kong court has denied bail to two former senior editors charged with conspiring to publish seditious materials, a day after police raided Stand News, a pro-democracy media outlet, prompting its closure.

About 200 officers raided the office of the online publication on Wednesday, froze its assets and arrested seven current and former senior editors and former board members, in the latest crackdown on the city’s press.

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Hong Kong media outlet Stand News to close after police raid

Reports say editors, board members and pop singer were held in early morning sweep as 200 officers raid office

The most prominent pro-democracy media outlet still operating in Hong Kong, Stand News, said it will shut down after police raided its offices, froze its assets and arrested senior journalists and former board members including pop star Denise Ho.

Authorities deployed an anti-sedition law in their crackdown that was drawn up under British colonial rule and had not been used for decades. A senior police officer accused the online site of “inciting hatred” against the Hong Kong government in news articles and interviews.

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Speed of Stand News shutdown sends chilling signal to Hong Kong’s media

Analysis: the police raid and closure of the pro-democracy website has left journalists wondering who will be next

The Christmas attack on Hong Kong website Stand News was no great surprise in a city where all forms of political opposition are being dismantled wholesale, but the scale, speed and nature of the operation to shutter this pro-democracy website were still shocking.

Over 200 police officers swept into the newsroom, and others fanned out over the city making arrests under a harsh sedition law from the days of British colonial rule that had been gathering dust for decades.

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Eastern European countries adopting authoritarian measures in face of Covid

Analysis reveals widespread violations of international democratic freedoms in response to pandemic

Europe’s political approach to the coronavirus pandemic has divided down stark east-west lines, a Guardian analysis has found.

Five of 18 eastern European countries have registered major violations of international democratic freedoms since March 2020, according to research conducted by the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Institute, compared with none of 12 western European countries.

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Polish president vetoes media law criticised by US and EU

Law would have prevented companies outside the EEA from holding a controlling stake in Polish media companies

The Polish president has vetoed a media ownership law that critics said was aimed at silencing the US-owned news channel TVN24.

“I am vetoing it,” Andrzej Duda said in a televised statement, after the EU and the US heavily criticised the law.

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Poland angers US by rushing through media law amid concerns over press freedom

US ‘deeply troubled’ by the bill, which tightens foreign ownership rules, arguing it will weaken press freedom

Poland’s parliament passed a media bill that detractors say aims to silence a news channel critical of the government, in an unexpected move that will stoke concern over media freedom and reopen a diplomatic dispute with the US.

Critics say the legislation will affect the ability of news channel TVN24, owned by US media company Discovery Inc, to operate because it tightens the rules around foreign ownership of media in Poland.

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‘The Taliban say they’ll kill me if they find me’: a female reporter still on the run speaks out

We return to the story of a journalist forced to flee as Afghanistan fell to the Taliban in August. Unable to return home without putting at risk everyone she loves and hounded by threatening calls, she remains in hiding in the country four months on

I am an Afghan female journalist and I have been on the run for more than four months. I have lived in numerous safe houses and the homes of people who’ve offered me refuge. I am constantly moving to avoid being caught, from province to province, city to city.

The Taliban insurgents have been threatening to kill me and my colleagues for two years, for our reports exposing their crimes in our province. But when they seized control of our provincial capital, they started to hunt for those who had spoken out against them. I decided to escape, for my own and my family’s safety.

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Photojournalist in Myanmar dies in military custody a week after arrest

Soe Naing was arrested in Yangon while taking photos of a ‘silent strike’ protest against military rule

A freelance photojournalist in Myanmar has died in military custody after being arrested last week while covering protests.

Soe Naing is the first journalist known to have died in custody since the army seized power in February, ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. More than 100 journalists have been detained since then, though about half have been released.

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