Committee to Protect Journalists – Defending Journalists Worldwide.

CPJ calls on Biden, US lawmakers to push Netanyahu on press freedom

U.S. President Joe Biden meets with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv on October 18, 2023. The two are set to meet again on July 23, 2024 in Washington, D.C., and CPJ and other rights groups are urging the President and other lawmakers to push Netanyahu to improve press freedom and address rights abuses against journalists. (Photo: AFP/Brendan Smialowski) — U.S. President Joe Biden meets with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv on October 18, 2023. The two are set to meet again on July 23, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Photo: AFP/Brendan Smialowski)

President Joe Biden should press Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the unprecedented number of journalists killed in the Gaza Strip and the near-total ban on international media entering the Strip, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and seven other human rights and press freedom organizations said in letters to the White House and U.S. Congressional leaders.

The letters call on the U.S. to ensure that Israel stops killing journalists and takes urgent steps to enable the press to report freely throughout the region. The letters also outline press freedom violations and Israel’s failure to hold journalists’ killers to account. Netanyahu is expected to meet with Biden on Tuesday and to address a joint session of Congress on Wednesday.

The letters were signed by Amnesty International USA, Freedom of the Press Foundation, Knight First Amendment Institute, the National Press Club, PEN America, Reporters Without Borders, and the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy.

“More than 100 journalists have been killed. An unprecedented number of journalists and media workers have been arrested, often without charge. They have been mistreated and tortured,” CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg said in a video message to Netanyahu last week.

As Venezuela election nears, restrictions and self-censorship limit coverage of opposition

Self-censorship and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's (right) control of the media has distorted election coverage in the country and deprived voters of vital information about the presidential candidates, including opposition front-runner Edmundo González (left). Photo: Reuters) — Venezuela’s opposition front-runner Edmundo González (left) and President Nicolás Maduro. (Photos: Reuters)

On May 17, veteran Venezuelan radio host Antonio Di Giampaolo planned to broadcast an interview with opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González, but executives at the station Éxitos 93.1 FM nixed the plan with no explanation, according to the journalist.

Di Giampaolo believes the radio station did not want to risk offending President Nicolás Maduro, who will face González at the polls on July 28 in a critical presidential election.

To journalists and press freedom groups who spoke with CPJ, the episode typifies how government control of the media and self-censorship has distorted election coverage in Venezuela and deprived voters of vital information about the presidential candidates, writes John Otis.

The Committee to Protect Journalists promotes press freedom worldwide.

We defend the right of journalists to report the news safely and without fear of reprisal.

Journalists Attacked

Myat Thu Tan

MURDERED

Myat Thu Tan, a contributor to the local news website Western News and correspondent for several independent Myanmar news outlets, was shot and killed on January 31, 2024, while in military custody in Mrauk-U in Myanmar’s western Rakhine State.

He was arrested on September 22, 2022, and held in pre-trial detention under a broad provision of the penal code that criminalizes incitement and the dissemination of false news for critical posts he made on his Facebook page. Myat Thu Tan had not been tried or convicted at the time of his death.

The journalist’s body was found buried in a bomb shelter, with the bodies of six other political detainees, and showed signs of torture.

Myanmar’s military junta has cracked down on journalists and media outlets since seizing power in a February 2021 coup.

Learn more about Myat Thu Tan