2018
Chad arrests local journalist over satire piece
Judicial police in Chad’s capital N’Djamena on January 29, 2018, released Mahamat Abakar Issa, the director of the weekly newspaper Alchahed, after detaining him for seven days, according to Djimet Witche Wahili, the director of the privately owned news site Alwihda Info.
Conditions deteriorate for foreign press in China, FCCC finds
The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China annual survey, released this week, showed a steady deterioration of working conditions in China for the foreign press. The report, “Access Denied,” documented increased efforts by Chinese authorities to deny or restrict foreign correspondents’ access to large parts of the country in 2017. Increasingly, foreign ministry officials use China’s…
Kenya cuts TV transmissions over live coverage of opposition’s Odinga
Nairobi, January 30, 2018–Authorities in Kenya should immediately allow four privately owned television stations to resume broadcasting, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Officials from the broadcast regulator the Communications Authority, accompanied by police, switched off transmitters today while the stations were broadcasting live coverage of an opposition party event in the capital, Nairobi,…
Ahead of elections, Brazil’s police announce plan to crackdown on ‘fake news’
In November last year, Brazilian police stopped a truck on a highway in the center of the country and, after a thorough search, discovered more than six tons of marijuana stashed in false compartments. The truck had the name Romanelli on the side, but police said it was a label designed to confuse and that…
Mexico’s special prosecutor says FEADLE is improving, but impunity continues
For approximately two months, Mexico’s office of the Special Prosecutor for Attention for Crimes Against Freedom of Expression (FEADLE) led a nomadic existence after its building was damaged in a September 19 earthquake that killed almost 400 people in and around Mexico City. The agency now has a new home, but the natural disaster served…
Reporters harassed, verbally assaulted covering Czech presidential election
Journalists covering election night at the Czech presidential campaign headquarters in a Prague hotel on January 27, 2018, were verbally assaulted, shoved, and prevented from filming, according to reports and videos posted to social media.
Russian authorities arrest Sochi blogger on extortion charges
New York, January 26, 2018–Russian authorities should immediately drop the charges against journalist Aleksandr Valov and release him from custody, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Authorities on January 19 detained Valov, the editor-in-chief and founder of a local news site BlogSochi, and, two days later, charged him with extortion, according to media reports.
DRC journalist detained, accused of “compromising” president over bread truck photos
New York, January 25, 2018–Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo should investigate and bring to justice those responsible for the harassment and detention of Willy Akonda, a reporter with the privately owned ACTUALITE.CD news outlet, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Why release of two journalists in Ethiopia does not signal end to press crackdown
On January 10, radio journalists Darsema Sori and Khalid Mohammed were released from prison after serving lengthy sentences related to their work at the Ethiopian faith-based station Radio Bilal. Despite their release and Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn’s promise earlier this month to free political prisoners, Ethiopia’s use of imprisonment, harassment, and surveillance means that the…