To mark World Press Freedom Day, members of WAN-IFRA’s Middle East Media Freedom Committees produced a series of videos to show the challenges journalists face in the region and encourage the media to remain free.

US President Donald Trump and former FBI Director James Comey don’t agree on much anymore. One of the more alarming sentiments they did share near the end of Comey’s chaotic tenure last year was an exchange in which Trump suggested that journalists might talk about their sources “if they spent a couple days in jail,” according to a Comey memo released as part of his book tour. Comey said he laughed at the suggestion.

As part of a day of global action on 3 May to protest the on-going deterioration of freedom of expression in Turkey, WAN-IFRA joined IFEX, the global network comprising 108 organisations dedicated to promoting and defending freedom of expression, to raise a collective voice to the attention of Turkish diplomatic missions worldwide.

WAN-IFRA partners from four regions came together in Helsinki, Finland from May 2-4 for the inaugural Media Freedom Committee meeting as well as to celebrate World Press Freedom Day in conjunction with UNESCO’s global conference. There, participants shared experiences and discussed the challenges facing journalists in their respective countries.