Disinformation is often described as a weapon of the twenty-first century, but in reality, it is an old tool sharpened by new technologies. In today’s connected world, a single video clip, stripped of its true context, can cross borders in seconds and plant seeds of misunderstanding between entire nations. Azerbaijan, a country that has repeatedly found itself in the crosshairs of regional information wars, has grown accustomed to being the subject of hostile narratives. Yet even by those standards, the latest incident involving Iran’s Sahar TV stands out as a particularly brazen example of manipulation. The Azerbaijan Media and Broadcasting…

In Istanbul, the weekend brought another jarring reminder of how quickly the space for independent journalism is shrinking. Four journalists, each with a long record of holding power to account, found themselves on the wrong side of the law simply for doing their jobs. Mustafa Balcı and İsmail Saymaz, both from the independent newspaper Sözcü, were among them, along with freelance reporter Şaban Sevinç and Murat Ağırel, who writes for the independent outlets Cumhuriyet and Onlar. On Friday, October 9, they were summoned by Turkish police and questioned not about some hidden crime or act of violence, but about their…