This morning the High Court in London ruled that the extradition of WikiLeaks Publisher Julian Assange to the United States should go ahead.

Having declared that journalists in Turkey - who are being harassed, detained, and jailed - are “incomparably free” - President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and ruling AKP party officials refused to meet a contingent of media freedom groups.

Six months after investigative journalist Giorgos Karaivaz was gunned down near his home in Athens - and as Reporters Without Borders (RSF) pressed police for answers - Greece’s conservative government is being ripped by media freedom groups for proposals that would bring fines and jail time for reporting “false news.”

After a warning from Reporters Without Borders (RSF) about a “press freedom state of emergency” in Poland, the hardline government that’s challenging the European Union over rule of law extended a broadcasting license for news channel TVN24, but is still squeezing media outlets.

Reeling over the murder of crime reporter Giorgos Karaivaz and plummeting in Reporters Without Borders (RSF) media freedom rankings, Greece is now dealing with claims by another investigative journalist his life was threatened.

Already essentially shut out by a government that critics said has used the COVID-19 pandemic to stifle the press, 28 Hungarian media outlets demanded greater access to hospitals for journalists covering the crisis to report on a surge of cases and deaths. The request wasn’t granted.

Prosecutors on Sicily probing sea rescue groups and charities for alleged migrant smuggling were also wiretapping reporters to find their their sources, and tracked journalists movements on their phones, an Italian newspaper said.

She wouldn't name them – Malta and Slovakia – but European Commission Vice-President Vera Jourová said countries where journalists have been murdered must offer more protections, including against SLAPP suits aimed at silencing them.

The European Union “made a horrible mistake in Europe by underestimating the role of media for upholding democracy,” European Commission Vice-President Věra Jourová said, citing the murders of journalists Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta in 2017 and Ján Kuciak in Slovakia in 2018. Both probed high-level corruption.

Proceedings resumed this morning in the case of Kumlin and another v Jonsson and others, which is considering if a suit against a Swedish publication for alleged libel should be held in London under English law.

London's High Court has heard that a £30m defamation claim should be dismissed as the claimant, a Swedish businessman, is engaged in “libel tourism,” rather than bringing his claim against Swedish journalists, over an article written in Sweden, before a Swedish court.

Reacting to attacks and threats against journalists, the United Kingdom has put forth a national plan to protect them, with more reporting if they've been subject to online harassment as well.