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 March 29.
Israel’s war on Gaza deadliest conflict for media workers in recorded history
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed 232 journalists – an average of 13 per week – making it the deadliest conflict for media workers ever recorded, according to a report by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs’ Costs of War project.
“The war in Gaza has, since October 7, 2023, killed more journalists than the U.S. Civil War, World Wars I and II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War (including the conflicts in Cambodia and Laos), the wars in Yugoslavia in the 1990s and 2000s, and the post-9/11 war in Afghanistan, combined.”
Press freedom groups condemn detention of Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk
11 free speech and free press organizations – including PEN America, Freedom of the Press Foundation and others – have signed a letter condemning the detention of Tufts University Ph.D. student Rumeysa Ozturk by federal immigration authorities due to her opinion piece published more than a year ago in The Tufts Daily, the university’s student newspaper.
“Such a basis for her detention would represent a blatant disregard for the principles of free speech and free press within the First Amendment, and we call on Tufts University officials, Massachusetts lawmakers and federal authorities to take immediate action to secure her release”, wrote the groups.