2012
Colombian Supreme Court sues journalist for defamation
Bogotá, August 27, 2012–Colombia’s Supreme Court must immediately drop an unprecedented criminal defamation complaint against a prominent local columnist who questioned recent actions by the court, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Video shows Turkish cameraman held captive in Syria
New York, August 27, 2012–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for the immediate release of Turkish cameraman Cüneyt Ünal, who appeared exhausted and bruised in a video aired today in which he said he had been taken captive while reporting in Syria. Ünal, a cameraman for the U.S. government-funded broadcaster Al-Hurra, was reported missing in…
A journalist’s account of a Cambodian activist’s death
Here’s a quick pointer to a piece in the Daily Beast by freelance reporter Olesia Plokhii, who worked at The Cambodia Daily in Phnom Penh until May this year. Plokhii’s moving story, “Death of a Forester,” describes the death of Chut Wutty, a Cambodian activist who was shot a few feet away from Plokhii and…
Local press targeted and harassed in Ivory Coast
Lagos, Nigeria, August 24, 2012–Ivorian authorities must immediately halt censorship of news outlets reporting critically on the government and investigate an armed assault on the offices of a publishing group, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
In Egypt, Morsi bans pre-trial detention of journalists
New York, August 23, 2012–Egyptian leader Mohamed Morsi banned pre-trial detention of journalists charged with press-related offenses today in a decree issued just hours after a Cairo criminal court jailed an editor pending trial on charges of insulting the president, according to news reports.
U.S. journalist unaccounted for in Syria
New York, August 23, 2012–The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about the well-being of U.S. freelance journalist Austin Tice, who has not been heard from in Syria for more than a week, according to reports from The Washington Post and the McClatchy news service, two outlets for which he was reporting.
Egypt’s press freedom under Mursi spotlighted at trial
CPJ has documented a stream of attacks against the press under Egyptian leader Mohamed Morsi. Islam Afifi, editor-in-chief of the independent daily Al-Dustour was charged with insulting the president.Bloomberg reports on the story and quotes CPJ Deputy Director, Robert Mahoney, on this benchmark press freedom case under Morsi. Click here for the full story
India’s clumsy Internet crackdown
Indian Internet advocates and journalists are in an uproar this week over the news that the government has blocked access to around 300 websites, pages, and social media accounts in an effort to quell communal violence in the turbulent northeast. The rationale is that inflammatory online content has fanned tensions between Muslims and non-Muslims in…