Democracy at Risk

More than 50 Vietnamese activists, rights campaigners and bloggers have been put behind bars in 2018, in one of the harshest crackdowns in years. 

Rights groups criticized the detention of the reporters from Eleven Media, the latest in a long series of cases brought against the media under vague and outdated laws.

At least 15 Saudi journalists and bloggers have been arrested over the past year, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said on Wednesday.

Bulgaria found itself under pressure to find the killer of a television journalist whose brutal murder at the weekend has shocked the country and sparked international condemnation.

Nationally, more than 6 million people, including one in 13 African Americans, have lost their right to vote. Comparatively, only one in 56 non-black adults is disenfranchised. 

Major tech companies including Facebook and Google agreed Wednesday on a code of conduct to combat online disinformation in the European Union.

Austria's far-right interior minister, Herbert Kickl, insisted press freedom was "inviolable" as he tried to defuse a storm after asking police to limit cooperation with the media.

The E.U. referred Poland to its top court for an alleged breach of the independence of its supreme court, the latest showdown between Brussels and populist member state governments.

A former columnist for state media has been jailed for seven years for "abusive" Facebook posts about Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Russians who refuse to take down online information that has been judged "false" by a court could be sentenced to up to a year in prison under a new bill.

The Kremlin faced a fresh electoral crisis Monday as the opposition cried foul over a key regional poll, drawing crowds of protesters into the streets.

Throughout the past year, a climate of hatred and hostility towards journalists in the United States has become significantly worse.

Journalists on the Greek island of Lesbos downed tools to protest aggression by far-right militants seeking to capitalize on refugees and migrants.

Press freedom is under pressure in Pakistan, where journalists face intimidation by the powerful army accompanied by violence which often pushes them to self-censure.

The European Parliament launched an action that could unleash unprecedented political sanctions against Viktor Orban's populist Hungarian government.

Myanmar, facing international outrage over the jailing of Reuters journalists, is conducting a "political campaign" against independent journalism, the U.N. said.

Two-thirds of American adults get at least some of their news from social media, even though many are skeptical about the accuracy of that information.

Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal released 13 pro-democracy activists who stormed the city's legislative council in a dramatic 2014 protest.

The wife of one of two Reuters journalists jailed in Myanmar made an emotional appeal to Aung San Suu Kyi to free her husband for the sake of their young daughter.

Saudi Arabia will punish online satire that "disrupts public order" with up to five years in prison, as the kingdom cracks down on dissent.