2019

  
The Department of Justice building in Washington, D.C. The aggressive pursuit of people suspected of leaking information to the press is having an impact on reporting, national security journalists say. (Reuters/Yuri Gripas)

Leak prosecutions under Trump chill national security beat

When President Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general, William Barr, was asked at his confirmation hearing in January whether he would ever consider jailing a journalist, Barr paused for about eight seconds, then said he could “conceive of a situation” where a journalist is jailed as a “last resort.” Such equivocation was troubling to press…

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Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abou Zeid, also known as Shawkan, center, is hugged by his parents at his home in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, March 4, 2019. Shawkan was released after five years in prison. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

Egyptian photojournalist Shawkan finally free after over 5 years in jail

Washington, D.C., March 4, 2019–Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abou Zeid, also known as Shawkan, was today released from prison after spending over five years in detention on anti-state charges, according to a post from his Twitter account. According to news reports, Shawkan said he was officially approved for release on Sunday night but held by police…

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Tanzanians sit next to a tree in Dar es Salaam in 2015. Tanzanian authorities this week imposed a temporary ban on The Citizen over its reporting. (AP/Khalfan Said)

Tanzania imposes 7-day publication ban on The Citizen

Nairobi, March 1, 2019–Authorities in Tanzania should lift a seven-day publication ban on the privately owned newspaper The Citizen and allow journalists to report on matters of public interest freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The Information Services Department, which oversees newspaper licenses, temporarily suspended the publication license of The Citizen on February…

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