2012
Online news sites as battleground for Mexican drug war
I’m in Culiacán, the capital of the Mexican state of Sinaloa. Part of my work here has been to investigate and highlight the cyber-attacks that the award-winning weekly local newsmagazine Ríodoce has encountered in its coverage of the violent drugs war here. But discussing the experiences of online editors at other publications here has shown…
Crowd attacks Indian journalists covering elections
New York, March 6, 2012–A large crowd attacked a group of about 100 Indian journalists covering local election results in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday and damaged their equipment, according to news reports. The journalists were forced to lock themselves in a school for several hours to protect themselves from the violence,…
Globovisión journalists attacked in Venezuela
New York, March 6, 2012–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Sunday’s attack in Venezuela on Globovisión journalists covering an opposition political rally that came under gunfire. The station reported that assailants, who wore the red shirts associated with supporters of President Hugo Chávez, threatened the journalists and stole their equipment.
Egyptian journalists pressured by military, Islamists
For a few weeks after the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak, it looked as if Egypt might do the unthinkable and do away with the ministry of information. New publications and TV stations sprouted up, newspaper circulation soared, and a new breed of citizen journalists and bloggers opened a space for reporting and comment that…
Mexico: A deadly beat
Since 2006, more than 40 journalists have died or disappeared in Mexico, according to research by the Committee to Protect Journalists. The culprits, are rarely if ever, found or brought to justice. CNN follows the case of journalist Oscar Rivera whose death after reporting on Mexico’s drug wars was never investigated; CPJ’s Mexico Representative, Mike…
Puntland radio station closed, director held
New York, March 5, 2012–Authorities in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland in Somalia shut down an independent radio broadcaster and arrested the station’s director over coverage of fighting between the government and Al-Shabaab militants, local journalists said.Around 10:20 p.m. Saturday, armed police arriving in two vehicles raided Codka Nabadda (Voice of Peace) in the port city of…
Somali journalist killed in Puntland
New York, March 5, 2012–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the murder of a former Somali journalist who was shot on Sunday in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland. The victim, Ali Ahmed Abdi, had recently resigned as a manager for a news outlet that has come under attack by Al-Shabaab insurgents.