2011
Safety advisories for journalists covering Libya
The Libyan conflict is the most recent in a string of dangerous international stories. Several journalists are missing. A BBC crew was detained and subjected to beatings and a mock execution. TV crews report having their equipment seized. The Europe-based International News Safety Institute, a consortium of news organizations and journalist groups including CPJ, is…
CPJ disturbed by acquittal in Indonesian journalist’s death
New York, March 10, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists is dismayed by a provincial court’s decision in Indonesia to acquit three accused killers of TV journalist Ridwan Salamun. On Wednesday, a panel of judges in the Tual District Court in Maluku declared the three men not guilty of the reduced charge of “persecution” in the…
In El Salvador, 11 sentenced in filmmaker’s 2009 slaying
New York, March 10, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes Wednesday’s sentencing of 11 defendants in the brutal 2009 slaying of Christian Poveda, left, a French photojournalist and filmmaker who had spent decades documenting gang violence in El Salvador. Twenty other suspects, accused of being accomplices, were acquitted.
Uighur website editor sentenced in secret in China
New York, March 10, 2011–The secret sentencing of a Uighur website editor emerged this week, eight months after he was tried along with other journalists and dissidents charged in the 2009 unrest in northwestern Xinjiang, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
In Libya, 7 journalists unaccounted for, 3 others abused
New York, March 10, 2011–At least seven journalists covering the conflict in Libya are unaccounted for, according to research by the Committee to Protect Journalists, which expressed deep concern today about their well-being. The most recent to go missing is Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, a correspondent for London’s Guardian newspaper, whose disappearance was reported today.
Bob Stan, Liberia press pioneer, captivates at 80
Veteran journalist Stanton B. Peabody, a pioneer of press freedom in Liberia, turned 80 last month. Peabody, known to family and friends as “Bob Stan,” is a captivating figure full of wisdom and humor. We talked recently about his journalism career, one that has tracked the blossoming of the press in Liberia.
U.N. to investigate Prageeth Eknelygoda’s disappearance
Tuesday’s letter from CPJ and four other groups to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon apparently had some impact. The Canadian Press reported today that Ban has asked the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights and UNESCO, which oversees press freedom, to look into the case of Prageeth Eknelygoda, a Sri Lankan columnist and cartoonist missing for…
Michael Anti’s exile from Facebook over ‘real-name policy’
The Chinese journalist Michael Anti had his Facebook account deleted in January. The reason Facebook gave was that Michael Anti isn’t his real, government-recorded, name–which is true. Instead, Anti is the name that he has written under for almost a decade, on his own personal blogs, and in his writing for the New York Times…
Peruvian news daily attacked; editor threatened
New York, March 9, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the attack on the Peruvian news daily Voces, which was hit with homemade explosive devices on Saturday. The daily’s editor recently received threats following critical reporting on a national congressional candidate, he told CPJ.
CPJ condemns attacks on press in Libya, Yemen, and Egypt
New York, March 9, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by an attack on the Ouzo Hotel in the rebel-held city of Benghazi in eastern Libya on Tuesday. Unknown assailants threw an explosive device into the hotel, which has been the primary residence for journalists in the city, in the early morning hours, according…