USA / Americas

For data on press freedom violations in the U.S., visit the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, a partnership between CPJ and Freedom of the Press Foundation.

Read CPJ’s report on the Biden administration and the press.

  

Why extradition of WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange to US would be cataclysmic for press freedom

The Australian founder of the website WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, has been fighting extradition to the U.S. from the U.K. since 2019 on charges that could strike a blow to press freedom globally. Here is CPJ’s briefing on the legal battle to extradite Assange, the charges he would face in the U.S., and why his prosecution…

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CPJ, Freedom of the Press Foundation call for charges against New York freelancer to be dropped

Editor’s note: The letter was updated to correct the name of the district attorney.

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Reed Dunlea

New York police arrest, charge journalist Reed Dunlea during protest against Israel

Washington, D.C., February 14, 2024—New York City law enforcement should immediately drop all charges against freelance journalist Reed Dunlea and take steps to ensure that reporters are not detained while covering protests, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Wednesday.  Dunlea was collecting audio for his podcast, Scene Report, at a February 10 protest in…

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Alabama publisher, reporter arrested, charged with disclosing leaked information

Washington, D.C., October 31, 2023—Authorities in Escambia County, Alabama, should immediately drop all charges against Atmore News publisher Sherry Digmon and reporter Don Fletcher and thoroughly investigate the motives behind their arrests, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. Police arrested Digmon and Fletcher on October 27 on charges of disclosing leaked information, according to…

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Press freedom activists hold a candlelight vigil in front of the Saudi Arabian embassy in Washington, D.C. to mark the first anniversary of the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. (Reuters/Sarah Silbiger)

Mahoney: Biden’s Saudi policy stymies quest for Khashoggi justice

From pariah to potential partner. That’s how far Saudi Arabia has come for President Joe Biden in the five years since Riyadh sent a death squad to butcher journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The administration’s ongoing rehabilitation of the petrodollar kingdom and its de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, widely known as MBS, seems to…

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CPJ joins group calling for explanation of FBI raid linked to Tucker Carlson interview

The FBI used a search warrant to raid the home of freelance journalist Tim Burke on May 8, 2023, in Tampa, Fla., seizing most of his electronic devices, after Burke obtained outtakes of a 2022 Fox News interview by Tucker Carlson with the rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West. The Committee to Protect Journalists signed on…

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Journalist Josh Kruger shot, killed in Philadelphia

New York, October 2, 2023—The Committee to Protect Journalists has called for police to investigate the motive for the fatal shooting of freelance journalist Josh Kruger near his Philadelphia home on Monday. “We are deeply disturbed by the killing of freelance journalist Josh Kruger and extend our condolences to his colleagues and loved ones,” said…

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‘Network abuse’: Attacks on 3 media sites involved services of US, UK firms

Cyberattackers used services of technology companies based in the U.S. and U.K. to target media sites from Somalia, Kosovo, and Turkmenistan, Qurium, a nonprofit hosting the sites, said Tuesday. Earlier this month, CPJ reported on how cyberattackers used a Nebraska company, RayoByte, in attempts to knock those same media sites offline, as well as at…

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Cyberattackers used US company RayoByte in efforts to crash media sites

The cyberattack against the Somali Journalists Syndicate could not have come at a worse time. A distributed denial-of-service attack, known by its acronym DDoS, flooded the local press freedom group’s website with traffic in early August and knocked it offline. Days later, authorities arrested SJS staff member and Kaab TV editor Mohamed Ibrahim Osman Bulbul…

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Marion County Record owner and editor Eric Meyer holds a freshly printed edition of the newspaper on August 16, 2023, as he addresses an impromptu press conference for reporters in Marion to cover the aftermath of a police raid on the publication five days earlier. (Photo: Katherine Jacobsen)

Defiant Marion County Record hits newsstands following police raid

MARION, Kansas, August 17, 2023—At midday Wednesday, television crews were setting up for live broadcasts outside the Marion County Record; phones were ringing off the hook; and the paper’s owner, Eric Meyer was on a carousel of interviews about the police raid on their offices five days earlier. In the back room, surrounded by old…

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