International Media

Media Literacy – Important to Everyone

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Article in Poynter by Renata Salvini & Brittani Kollar

Headline:  “A journalist in Brazil is showing seniors how to outsmart misinformation, one WhatsApp message at a time”

Subhead:  “Through hands-on workshops, Talita Rosa is proving that media literacy can empower people of any age”

“The International Center for Journalists’ (ICFJ) Disarming Disinformation initiative is a three-year program, supported by the Scripps Howard Foundation, that aims to slow the spread of disinformation through multiple programs such as investigative journalism, capacity building and media literacy education. ICFJ partnered with MediaWise from the Poynter Institute to develop and deliver media literacy programming. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/media-literacy/2025/a-journalist-in-brazil-is-showing-seniors-how-to-outsmart-misinformation-one-whatsapp-message-at-a-time/

 

Radio Shutdown Coincidence?

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Article in The Guardian by Staff 10/30/25

Headline:  “Radio Free Asia suspends news operations amid cuts and US government shutdown”

Subhead:  “RFA will begin closing overseas bureaus, as well as laying off and paying severance to staff members, with the hope that it could return in the future”

“RFA was founded nearly three decades ago to report on China and other Asian countries without independent media.

“It has been operating with a skeleton staff the past few months, primarily producing a few stories online as the administration sought to choke off its funding. . .”

“Long a thorn in Beijing’s side, RFA’s closure comes after the US president met Chinese leader Xi Jinping on a trip to Asia. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/31/radio-free-asia-suspends-news-operations-amid-cuts-us-government-shutdown

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Article in Human Rights Watch by Staff, 12/23/25

Headline:  “Afghanistan: Taliban Tramples Media Freedom”

Subhead:  “Journalists Face Arrest, Torture; Journalists in Exile at Risk of Forced Return”

“The Taliban have gutted Afghan media since taking control of the country in August 2021 through the use of surveillance and censorship and by punishing media workers for perceived criticism.

“As the Taliban’s oppression of the media has increased, the need for independent news outlets in Afghanistan has become even greater. Journalists described both the harsh conditions in Afghanistan and growing challenges facing those living in exile. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/10/23/afghanistan-taliban-tramples-media-freedom

US Cuts Independent Media

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Article in The Nation by Rani Chor, 10/23/25

Headline:  “Independent Media in Cambodia Is Collapsing. Washington Made It Worse.”

Subhead:  “The Thai-Cambodian border conflict is just one of the many stories going underreported in the country as Trump’s funding cuts leave citizens and journalists scrambling.”

“. . .All the while, independent local journalists struggle to tell the stories of those in Run Ta Ek and across the country as funding for their reporting runs dry. . .”

“In January 2025, President Donald Trump signed an order to suspend foreign assistance—resulting in a devastating drop in funding for independent media, particularly in fragile or authoritarian contexts where support is most needed. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.thenation.com/article/society/independent-media-cambodia-usaid-budget-cuts/#

Journalist Opinion Not Allowed

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Article in The Guardian by Michael Sainato, 10/26/25

Headline:  “ICE detains British journalist after criticism of Israel on US tour”

Subhead:  “Trump ally Laura Loomer took credit for Sami Hamdi’s detainment in move denounced as ‘affront to free speech’ “

“British journalist Sami Hamdi was reportedly detained on Sunday morning by federal immigration authorities at San Francisco international airport, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (Cair) says that action is apparent retaliation for the Muslim political commentator’s criticism of Israel while touring the US. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/26/ice-detains-british-muslim-journalist-laura-loomer

Where’s the Beef?

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Article in Daily Dot by Rachel Kiley, 10/21/25

Headline:  “Trump rebukes ‘young lady’ reporter questioning Argentina bailout as farmers rips his beef deal”

Subhead: “Just found out that the first A in MAGA stands for Argentina.”

“. . .A reporter recently questioned Trump about this backlash, asking, “What do you have to say to U.S. farmers who feel that the deal is benefiting Argentina more than it does them—”

“Look, Argentina’s fighting for its life, young lady,” he said, cutting her off. “You don’t know anything about it. They’re fighting for their life. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.dailydot.com/viral-politics/trump-backlash-beef-trade-deal-argentina/

Media Ignore Bombing?

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Article in FAIR by Belen Fernandez, 10/21/25

Headline:  “To Media, Gaza Ceasefire Holds Despite Repeated Israeli Strikes”

“. . .In the ten days following the implementation of the ostensible truce, the Israeli military reportedly killed at least 97 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 230, violating the ceasefire agreement no fewer than 80 times. One might have expected, then, to see a headline or two along the lines of, I dunno, “Israel violates ceasefire”—or maybe “So much for ‘peace’ in Gaza.”

“No such headlines turned up in the Western corporate media—not that there weren’t some pretty spectacular violations to choose from. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/slider/to-media-gaza-ceasefire-holds-despite-repeated-israeli-strikes/

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Article in Democracy Now! by Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan, 10/16/25

Headline:  “Too Many Palestinian (and Certain Israeli) Voices Are Excluded from the U.S. Media”

“. . .In Israel, twenty families reunited with their loved ones who endured two years of captivity in Gaza following October 7th, 2023. Their pain and joy received blanket coverage in the US, and rightly so. But the ongoing suffering of the Palestinians rarely appears in the mainstream US media. It is absolutely essential that people here, the source of Israel’s arsenal, have access to the full breadth of debate on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. . ”

Read the full article at:

https://www.democracynow.org/2025/10/16/too_many_palestinian_and_certain_israeli

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Article in The New Republic by James North, 10/15/25

Headline:  “The Media Is Blowing a Big Story in Venezuela”

Subhead:  “With the president and his cronies ratcheting up their belligerence, the political press is failing to grasp how close we are to another regime change war.”

“How’s this for history repeating? The mainstream American media is botching its coverage of the Trump administration’s mounting military threats to Venezuela, and that failure is contributing to what looks to be a prolonged and violent disaster for both nations. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://newrepublic.com/article/201512/media-courting-colossal-failure-venezuela

Community Radio – Last Hope For News

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Article in Reporters Without Borders by Partager, 9/17/25

Headline:  “RSF releases new documentary on community radio stations, the last bastions of reliable news in the Sahel”

“As several Sahel countries face growing insecurity and their media are heavily pressured, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is screening ‘Community radios: the fight to keep the Sahel informed,’ its new documentary dedicated to community radio stations, in Dakar. The film delves into the daily lives of three journalists from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, essential workers in the news industry.

Read the full article at:

https://rsf.org/en/rsf-releases-new-documentary-community-radio-stations-last-bastions-reliable-news-sahel

Falling Media, Not Just in U.S.

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Article in The Guardian by Jason Burke, 9/10/25

Headline:  “Global press freedom suffers sharpest fall in 50 years, report finds”

Subhead: “The International IDEA’s survey of democratic markers finds US is offering ‘encouragement’ to populist leaders”

“The International IDEA’s survey – the Global State of Democracy Report 2025 – is published every five years and considered the most comprehensive of its kind, covering 174 countries and measuring democratic performance from 1975.

“The survey found that the freedom of the press had worsened in a quarter of the countries, marking the broadest deterioration since the beginning of the dataset. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/sep/11/global-press-freedom-suffers-sharpest-fall-in-50-years-report-finds