Over three consecutive days preceded by a glorified official political media campaign, Bahrain held a conference sponsored by King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, entitled: "Broadening the Tent: Freedom of Religion and Belief".

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) put Bahrain in the 169th rank in the list of 180 countries, according to "The illusion of peace in the Middle East" report.

The US President Donald Trump signed on Monday (August 13, 2018) a $716 billion defense bill which includes a provision that will require outlets like Qatar’s Al-Jazeera for the first time to start reporting regularly to the FCC on its funding and ownership.

Freedom House published on its website its Freedom of the Press report for 2016, rating countries worldwide, including Bahrain.

Freedom House classified Bahrain as the sixth worst country in the world in terms of freedom decline over 10 years. Bahrain came after Central African Republic, Turkey, The Gambia, Mali and Burundi. According to this scale, Manama was classified in a rank worst than Yemen, Syria and Afghanistan.