The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) [US] joins the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) [UK], Deutsche Welle (DW) [Germany], and France Médias Monde (FMM) [France] to co-sponsor the Bypass Censorship website. International news websites, along with social media and messaging channels used for accessing, sharing and engaging in the free flow of news and information online are routinely blocked by governments in many countries.

Today marks one month since the assassination of journalist Javier Valdéz Cárdenas, which shook the international press community and further exemplified the pervasive violation of press freedom in Mexico. Winner of the Committee to Protect Journalists’ 2011 International Press Freedom Award, Valdéz was murdered on May 15 in broad daylight near the Ríodoce office, the local weekly publication he founded in the Mexican state of Sinaloa.

Taiwan should be the regional leader in soft diplomacy as well. It has plenty to offer the world. Taiwan is the only Chinese-speaking democratic nation in the world, its press is unrestricted, and its citizens enjoy total online freedom. Add into this the fact that it has consistently punched above its weight economically and Taiwan has plenty to take to the wider world to counter-weight the obvious diplomatic difficulties that they face.

On a balmy mid-March evening, 11 Russian journalists clustered around a table in one of Austin’s time-honored barbeque joints, a platter piled high with brisket and a trough of mashed potatoes between them. The group had gathered for a traditional southern meal on the final evening of a ten-day press tour sponsored by the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and the State Department’s Foreign Press Center.

After a year dominated by controversy over China’s soft power forays into Australian politics, experts are warning the emerging superpower is using Australian media to exert political influence with implications for press freedom. A recent report argues this “major blind spot in Australia’s… understanding of Chinese-language media” could become “a trigger for social disharmony”.”