Our weekly roundup of press freedom news, highlighting the latest attacks on journalists, their right to publish, and our right to know. Here’s the news for the week of April 5.
Attacks on journalists double in Germany, finds RSF
A report from Reporters Without Borders has found a dramatic increase in attacks on journalists in Germany, with the number of incidents more than doubling in 2024.
Deutsche Welle writes that the report documented 89 attacks on media professionals last year, compared to 41 cases in 2023. The majority of attacks, 49, took place in Berlin and 38 incidents of physical violence occurred at demonstrations over Israel’s war on Gaza, whereas 21 attacks happened at demonstrations and events organized by the far-rigt Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
Israel bombs media tent, killing two
Two people, one of them journalist – Hilmi Al-Faqaawi and Yusuf Al-Khuzandar – were killed when an Israeli airstrike hit a press tent outside Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. Al-Faqaawi was burned alive on video inside the press tent. Nine other journalists were injured in the attack, some of them critically, reports Middle East Eye.
15 years since the publication of ‘Collateral Murder’
Fifteen years ago, Wikileaks released “Collateral murder”, a secret US military video depicting the indiscriminate slaying of over a dozen people in the Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad – including two Reuters news staff.
For this, Wikileaks publisher Julian Assange spent 14 years in detention and prison, and Chelsea Manning, who leaked the footage, spent 8 years in prison.