Turkey accounted for nearly 90 percent of cases involving the arrest, detention or imprisonment of journalists documented across Europe in the first six months of 2026, according to a new press freedom monitoring report.
The Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) recorded 47 such cases involving 61 journalists between January 1 and June 30 across European Union member states and candidate countries. Forty-two of the cases, or 89 percent, were recorded in Turkey, while the other five occurred in Georgia, Serbia and Spain.
The MFRR said Turkey’s persistently high number of cases remained a concerning trend.
Thirty of the 42 cases in Turkey involved arrests or detentions linked to journalists’ coverage of protests or posts on social media. Allegations of spreading disinformation appeared repeatedly in those cases, according to the report.
The remaining 12 cases resulted in prison sentences for 15 journalists totaling at least 32 years. The sentences were most often imposed under terrorism and disinformation laws, the MFRR said.
The report said fewer European countries recorded arrests, detentions or imprisonment of journalists during the first six months of 2026 than during the same period in 2025, but Turkey continued to account for a disproportionately high number of cases.
The findings are part of the MFRR’s interim monitoring briefing for January through June 2026. Its Mapping Media Freedom database documented 736 press freedom violations affecting 1,174 journalists and other media professionals during the period.
The most frequently recorded violations were insults, harassment or attempts to discredit journalists, with 212 cases, followed by 155 cases involving threats and 126 involving the obstruction of journalistic activity. The database also recorded physical assaults, attacks on equipment and property, hacking and legal action against media workers.
Political actors were linked to 19 percent of attacks documented across the countries covered by the report, while private individuals were the most frequently identified source of attacks. Online and digital attacks were the most common context, accounting for 238 incidents, or 32.3 percent of the total.
The MFRR tracks violations of press and media freedom in EU member states and candidate countries. The initiative is co-funded by the European Union and brings together several European press freedom and journalist organizations.
