2023
Somalia’s Radio Baraawe off air for weeks, director in hiding after shooting
Nairobi, September 14, 2023—The Committee to Protect Journalists on Thursday called on Somali authorities to credibly investigate an incident in which security personnel shot at Radio Baraawe and to create safe conditions for its journalists to return to work. On the evening of August 12, Radio Baraawe director Osman Aweys Bahar heard gunshots outside the…
‘Breathtakingly hard’: Iranian journalist Saeede Fathi on 2 months in Evin Prison
Saeede Fathabadi, who goes professionally by Saeede Fathi, was living in Vienna last year when she took a reporting trip to her native Iran to gather footage for a documentary about female athletes in the country. The topic is close to her heart; she used to be a professional basketball player but quit after she was unable…
Iran’s journalists in dire straits one year after protest crackdown
When Mahsa (Jina) Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman, died in custody last September after morality police detained her for alleged “improper” wearing of her headscarf, Iran’s already embattled press corps paid a heavy price for reporting on her death and the nationwide protests that followed. Scores of journalists were among those arrested as Iranian authorities cracked…
Journalists call on European Parliament to ban spyware
Some 500 journalists have called on members of the European Parliament since September 14 to introduce an absolute ban on surveillance of the press through spyware in the upcoming European Media Freedom Act. Spyware, which secretly takes over electronic devices without being detected, puts journalists around the world at risk of increased harassment and violence and…
CPJ joins call for Malta to publish expert report on media
The Committee to Protect Journalists joined four other press freedom groups on Thursday in calling on Malta’s government to publish without delay an expert report aimed at improving the difficult environment for the media following the assassination of leading investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia and to consult widely on any proposed legislation. The Committee of…
CPJ joins call for EU to safeguard against undue state influence on media
The Committee to Protect Journalists and 14 other civil society groups on Thursday urged the European Parliament to protect the press against undue state influence by ensuring that member countries provide advertising revenue to national media in a fair and transparent way. The call comes as the European Parliament is concluding its internal negotiations over…
Investigation finds Russian journalist Galina Timchenko targeted by Pegasus spyware
New York, September 13, 2023—The Committee to Protect Journalists said that it is deeply disturbed by the findings of an investigation released Wednesday by rights organizations that the phone of Galina Timchenko, head of the independent Russian news website Meduza, was infected by Pegasus surveillance spyware while she was in Germany earlier this year. “CPJ…
CPJ joins statement urging EU states to reject mass surveillance proposal
The Committee to Protect Journalists joined more than 80 other digital and human rights groups in a joint statement on Wednesday, September 13, 2023, urging European Union countries to reject the bloc’s draft Child Sexual Abuse Regulation as it could violate hundreds of millions of people’s privacy rights. The proposal could force companies to scan…
Guinea authorities suspend Dépêche Guinée news website and publisher Abdoul Latif Diallo for 1 month
Dakar, September 12, 2023—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Guinea’s media regulator to reverse its Monday suspension order banning the privately owned news website Dépêche Guinée and its publishing director, Abdoul Latif Diallo, from printing reports for one month. “Guinea’s High Authority for Communication should immediately lift its suspension of the entire Dépêche Guinée…