2016
All but one country in Americas criminalize defamation
CPJ releases comparative study of criminal defamation laws in the Americas Lima, Peru, March 2, 2016–An alarming resurgence in the use of outdated criminal defamation provisions to target critical journalists across Latin America represents a danger to freedom of expression in the region, according to a new report released today by the Committee to Protect…
Station’s signal dropped by Turkey’s largest satellite provider over claims it promotes terrorism
New York, March 1, 2016–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the action taken against the privately owned channel IMC TV after Turkey’s largest satellite provider dropped its signal permanently on Friday.
Press freedom crisis in India’s Chhattisgarh state deepens as two journalists flee Bastar
New York, February 29, 2016–The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by the deteriorating climate for the press in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh and calls on authorities to ensure that journalists can work there without fear of intimidation. In recent weeks, two journalists have fled the district of Bastar out of concern…
After disputed Uganda election, journalists fear prolonged crackdown
Twenty nine-year-old photographer Abubaker Lubowa was excited when he was assigned to cover the campaign of opposition leader Kizza Besigye. He told CPJ he did not anticipate that the assignment would mean he would make the news almost as often as he covered it.
Computer security is necessary for journalist safety
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article was originally published, in Spanish, in El País. This week, journalists, technologists, and other human rights advocates will gather in Valencia, Spain for the Internet Freedom Festival, a multidisciplinary “un-conference” dedicated to fighting surveillance and censorship online. More than 600 people from 43 countries have registered for the festival, which is…
Journalist faces criminal defamation threat in East Timor
Bangkok, February 29, 2016 – The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on East Timor’s prime minister, Rui Maria de Araujo, to drop the criminal defamation complaint he is pursuing against freelance journalist Raimundos Oki. Oki faces up to three years in prison if convicted of defamation for a report for the Timor Post newspaper alleging…
Amid rising violence in Brazil, convictions in journalists’ murders are cause for optimism
Justice delayed is justice denied, goes the legal maxim, and that has all too often been the case in Latin America. But the perseverance of lawyers and prosecutors in Brazil has resulted in a number of recent convictions in cases many thought had been buried or forgotten.
CPJ Newsletter: March edition
Landmark conviction in 2000 attack on Colombian journalist A Colombian court on February 26 convicted a former paramilitary fighter in the kidnapping and torture of Colombian journalist Jineth Bedoya and sentenced him to 11 years in prison. The fighter, Alejandro Cárdenas Orozco, was also ordered to pay a fine of around US$17,500.
Ex-paramilitary fighter jailed for 11 years over Jineth Bedoya attack in Colombia
New York, February 26, 2016–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the sentencing Thursday of former paramilitary fighter Alejandro Cárdenas Orozco to 11 years in prison for the kidnap and torture of Colombian journalist Jineth Bedoya Lima in 2000.