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By Gideon Sarpong The rise of social media platforms provides many opportunities to the more than half a billion internet users in Africa, including increased access to information and extended social networks. However, these platforms pose new challenges to protecting the safety of journalists. In many countries, social media have become toxic online spaces where […]

A New Battlefront: The Effect of Commercial Spyware on Independent Media Wednesday, September 29 10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. EDT Speakers Samuel Woodhams, CIMA Report Author Spyware: An Unregulated and Escalating Threat to Independent Media Ron Deibert, Director, The Citizen Lab, Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, University of Toronto Tanja Maksic, Project […]

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By the Media Institute of Southern Africa The landmark Windhoek Declaration, signed in Namibia in 1991, signaled Southern Africa’s commitment to working in solidarity to support a free and independent media in the region. Thirty years later, independent journalism in many Southern African countries has declined. The COVID-19 pandemic has added to the challenges independent […]

The unchecked growth of the commercial spyware industry is providing repressive governments with new tools to surveil, harass, and attack independent journalists and their sources in a new battlefront against the free flow of information. The chilling effect of this is strongest in countries with a history of restricting free expression and weak legal and […]

By Meri Baghdasaryan In the wake of a recently reignited war with Azerbaijan in 2020, concerns about the spread of digital disinformation in Armenia have grown. So much so that a raft of legislation has been proposed by lawmakers in the Armenian parliament to address the issue. However, some of the current proposals would severely […]

Thinking Globally, Acting Locally: Shaping the Future of Global Digital Democracy through Localized Approaches Thursday, July 29 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. EDT Speakers Gideon Sarpong, Policy Analyst and Media Practitioner, Ghana Meri Baghdasaryan, Human Rights Attorney, Armenia Catherine Muya, Lawyer and Policy Officer, Kenya Paola Gálvez, Digital Strategy Consultant and Professor, Peru Moderator: Daniel […]

The Power of Data: A New Way to Measure International Media Development Thursday, July 15 9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. EDTSpeakers: Tara Susman-Peña, Senior Technical Expert, IREX Anahit Khachatryan, Democracy, Rights, and Governance Advisor, USAID Armenia Marius Dragomir, Director, Center for Media, Data, and Society Peter Pomerantsev, Senior Fellow, SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University […]

By Anya Schiffrin Independent journalism faces numerous threats, not least because of the precarious financial situation of many media outlets. The internet has drastically reshaped not only the media landscape, but also the ways business and politics interact with and shape journalism. Politicians no longer need to wield the red pen of old-fashioned censorship. They […]

Political shifts in Southeast Europe over the past thirty years were followed by dramatic improvements in the media sectors of several countries, including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Slovenia. Yet, over the past decade, progress has stalled. Independent media in countries across Southeast Europe are under attack and must […]