Committee to Protect Journalists – Defending Journalists Worldwide.

Major news outlets back journalists in Gaza

Agence France-Presse employees hold portraits in support of AFP journalists working in Gaza at a January 17 gathering on the balconies and in front of windows at the agency’s headquarters on Paris. (Photo: AFP/Bertrand Guay)

Leaders of more than 30 news organizations around the world, including the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, and Reuters, have joined an open letter on Thursday affirming that they “stand united with Palestinian journalists in their call for safety, protection, and the freedom to report.”

The letter, coordinated by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) with the support of the World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), emphasizes the perilous environment for members of the press covering the Israel-Gaza war, the deadliest conflict for journalists ever documented by CPJ.

“For nearly five months, journalists and media workers in Gaza – overwhelmingly, the sole source of on-the-ground reporting from within the Palestinian territory – have been working in unprecedented conditions,” the letter reads. “These journalists – on whom the international news media and the international community rely for information about the situation inside Gaza – continue to report despite grave personal risk.”

“Attacks on journalists are also attacks on the truth,” the letter states, reminding the international community that journalists are civilians and authorities must protect journalists as noncombatants according to international law.

Record number of journalists in Senegal’s jails amid political turmoil

Five journalists have been jailed in Senegal since last year in connection with their work. They include (clockwise from top left) Ndèye Astou Bâ, Papa El Hadji Omar Yally, Daouda Sow, and Ndèye Maty Niang. (Screenshots, clockwise from top left: Allô Sénégal/YouTube; Photo, bottom left: Marietou Beye)

Senegalese reporter Ndèye Maty Niang, also known as Maty Sarr Niang, would have likely jumped at the chance to report on the political crisis gripping her country since the president postponed elections in early February. But Niang can’t cover the news – she’s in a women’s prison awaiting trial.

She’s not alone: Niang is one of at least five journalists jailed since last year in Senegal in connection with their work. It’s the highest number ever recorded in the country since CPJ began keeping track in 1992 with its annual December 1 prison census.

In a new feature, CPJ’s Moussa Ngom and Jonathan Rozen look at how journalist detentions are indicative of a broader crackdown on press freedom and dissent that has continued since Senegal’s election delay.

–Safety resource for covering protests in Senegal
-Watch: Journalists in Senegal attacked, harassed, detained amid political unrest

Journalists Attacked

Garry Tesse

KILLED

Haitian journalist Garry Tesse disappeared on his way to the Radio Lebon FM station in Les Cayes on October 18, 2022. His body was found six days later on the seashore and showed signs of severe torture.

Authorities opened a murder investigation, but the circumstances of Tesse’s death have remained shrouded in mystery since one of the principal suspects was released from jail in December 2023, leading to accusations of a cover-up by local press advocacy group SOS Journalistes.

Tesse, 39, was a vocal critic of political and judicial corruption on his midday radio show, “Gran Lakou” (Creole for “Big Yard”), on Radio Lebon FM. He was especially critical of a local prosecutor, stating on his radio show shortly before his death that there was a plot by the prosecutor to have him killed.

Learn more about Tesse