2016

  

Nigeria religious police assault journalists

Four representatives of the Kano State Hisbah Board, a local security agency set up to enforce its interpretation of Sharia law, on August 27, 2016, assaulted two journalists from private broadcaster Express Radio, according to news reports. The religious police were angry that Express Radio correspondent Abdullahi Isa brought two female journalists–Hauwa Musa Abdullahi, a…

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Liberian newspaper publisher arrested over civil libel case

Philipbert Browne, the publisher of Liberia’s Hot Pepper newspaper, was arrested at his office and jailed at the Monrovia Central Prison in the Liberian capital on October 7, 2016, for libel on the orders of a Civil Law Court over a story in his paper titled, “During Ebola Time: ‘I Lost My Virginity'” published the…

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Al-Jazeera crew detained for 2 days in Somalia

A crew from international broadcaster Al-Jazeera were detained on October 18, 2016, shortly after returning to Mogadishu from assignment, and released on October 20.

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CPJ to release annual report on impunity in murders of journalists

New York, October 20, 2016–The Committee to Protect Journalists will release its annual report, “Getting Away With Murder – 2016 Global Impunity Index,” on October 27. The index, published annually to mark the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists on November 2, spotlights countries where journalists are murdered and their killers go…

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A March 14, 2014, file photo shows a warning sign outside facility of the TransCanada Keystone Pipeline in Steele City, Nebraska. (Reuters/Lane Hickenbottom)

U.S. documentary filmmakers face prison for filming protest

New York, October 20, 2016–Prosecutors in the U.S. states of North Dakota and Washington should drop all charges against three independent documentary filmmakers arrested while filming environmental activists interfering with oil pipelines, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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A composite of front pages from Serbia's press. Headlines, from top left: Putin: I Can Destroy the States in Half an Hour; CIA is Warning: Putin is Ready to Wage a War for Serbia; Putin: Give me Crimea, I will Give you Kosovo. From bottom left: Blitzkrieg Campaign: To Kill Putin in Serbs; Serbia is facing an ultimatum: Either Russia or Europe

How influence of Russian media risks making Serbia a Moscow bureau

For a couple of days last month, uninformed tourists visiting Serbia could easily have believed that the country is a Russian outpost. With large photos of Vladimir Putin on their covers, Serbian tabloids–by far the biggest source of print information in the country–were engaged in a discussion over whether the Russian President would defend Serbia…

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Members of police special forces keep watch from an armored vehicle in front of a courthouse in Ankara, Turkey, on July 18, 2016. (Reuters/Baz Ratner)

CPJ, 25 other organizations call on Turkey to revoke state of emergency

A coalition of 26 international media freedom and human rights advocacy groups, including CPJ, today called on Turkey to lift emergency measures that have resulted in the stifling of criticism and dissent; the detention of large numbers of individuals, including more than 100 journalists; and the removal of fair trial protections and safeguards against torture.…

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Cuban journalists detained while covering hurricane damage

Cuban state security officers on October 11 briefly detained Elaine Díaz Rodríguez, one of Cuba’s most prominent independent journalists, along with five of her colleagues from Periodismo de Barrio (Neighborhood News) and two freelancers working with them, while the team attempted to report on storm damage caused by Hurricane Matthew in northeastern Cuba Periodismo de…

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Award-winning Malaysian cartoonist banned from travel

Bangkok, October 18, 2016–Malaysian authorities should immediately lift all restrictions on cartoonist Zulkiflee Anwar Ulhaque’s freedom of movement, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. An officer at Kuala Lumpur International Airport yesterday prevented the cartoonist, better known as Zunar, from leaving the country, according to news reports.

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Somalia closes newspaper, arrests editor

Nairobi, October 17, 2016 — Somali authorities should immediately release the editor of Xog Ogaal newspaper and allow the newspaper to resume publishing, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Officers from Somalia’s National Intelligence Agency raided the newspaper’s office and arrested its editor on October 15, according to press freedom advocates and press reports.

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