The Turkish election highlights the growing strength of Turkish opposition despite the defeat and approves of a president who could be weaker than he would like to appear.
South African investigative journalists and civil society played a crucial role in bringing a country in the clutches of patronage networks back from the brink.
It’s increasingly difficult for investigative journalists to hold governments to account – partly due to anti-terror and security laws making it harder for whistleblowers to act.
Forty years after the apartheid regime clamped down on the free press, South Africa’s media continues to face threats, albeit in more subtle forms than in the past.
Zambia has gone from a country where people engaged freely in open political debate to one where most people now look over their shoulders to see who’s listening.
There were high hopes that the SABC would become a true public broadcaster after the end of apartheid when it was used ruthlessly as a propaganda machine. But those hopes have since been dashed.
Press freedom has changed little in the past decade. If the African Union is to commit to the principles of democracy, it needs to do more to uphold freedom of expression and protects its journalists.
Namibia’s rise in the World Press Freedom rankings is stunning. The media environment in Africa, too, has improved. But media closures and the harassment of journalists are not yet things of the past.
Although Indonesian President Joko Widodo declared Papua open for foreign media in May this year, government obstacles to access the restive region linger.