As soon as Xi Jinping came to power as president of China in 2012, the control over freedom of expression and media was immediately tightened, writes Jingrong Tong, of Brunel University London. For example, all websites, blogs etc. had to apply for and obtain government permission before they could disseminate news information. The study analyses how … Continued

Journalists in Europe have been attacked over a thousand times since the beginning of the year 2000, a recent study found. A University of Vienna research team, led by Katharine Sarikakis, tallied the attacks until the end of 2016. According to the authors, last year has so far been the darkest for European journalists. In … Continued

The Mapping Media Freedom (MMF) project has launched its annual report in observance of the ongoing Media Freedom month. The project is run by the organisation Index on Censorship and partially funded by the European Commission. MMF verifies and archives reports on violations of media freedom in the European Union and several adjacent countries. The … Continued

Journalists are supposed to balance government surveillance with their own, but the power balance is against them, Anthony Mills and Katharine Sarikakis, both of University of Vienna, write. The authors interviewed 42 journalists, 8 media experts and one whistleblower from around the world over their experiences and thoughts on state-sanctioned surveillance of journalists. The surveillance … Continued