The Torch is a weekly newsletter from the Committee to Protect Journalists that brings you the latest press freedom and journalist safety news from around the world. Subscribe here.
The Committee to Protect Journalists has prepared dozens of safety resources for journalists covering the U.S. election this year. The actionable tips and strategies from CPJ cover many issues, including online harassment and protest safety, among others.
In collaboration with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, CPJ has also produced an updated legal guide that helps reporters navigate possible confrontations with law enforcement this year while covering protests or other political events in the U.S.
CPJ expressed concern earlier this week as anti-media rhetoric spiked following the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.
🔎 Read CPJ’s guide to safely covering U.S. election events
➡️ En Español: La cobertura segura de los actos electorales en Estados Unidos
💻 Attend “Protecting mental health in the face of online and offline attacks” on Tuesday, July 30, a webinar to equip journalists with safety tools to cover the U.S. elections
- Burkina Faso columnist Alain Traoré taken by armed men in masks
- Russia sentences journalist Masha Gessen to 8 years in absentia on ‘fake’ news charges
- Kenyan journalist Catherine Wanjeri wa Kariuki shot in leg covering protests
- CPJ calls on US to investigate threats against exiled Cuban journalist
- Libyan TV host Ahmed al-Sanussi arrested after corruption report
CPJ supports the urgent appeal filed to UN officials by an international legal team on behalf of Guatemalan investigative journalist José Rubén Zamora.
The appeal, sent to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, says Zamora, age 67, has been wrongfully imprisoned since 2022 and held in conditions “that amount to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment,” including deprivation of light, water, and sleep, and subjected to “sadistic humiliation ceremonies.”
“Jose Rubén Zamora’s treatment in prison and pre-trial detention is appalling and constitutes a grave violation of international human rights standards,” said Carlos Martínez de la Serna, CPJ’s program director. “The international community must act urgently to ensure his immediate release.”
The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention recently declared Zamora’s imprisonment arbitrary and in violation of international law. Likewise, a February report from TrialWatch gave a failing grade to Zamora’s legal proceedings, citing numerous breaches of fair-trial standards.
The UN working group asked Guatemalan authorities to report within six months on Zamora’s release status, any compensation or reparations, the results of the investigation into his rights violations, and whether Guatemala enacted legislative amendments or practical changes to align with international obligations.
- The cynicism of blaming the media for the Trump assassination attempt — Jon Allsop, Columbia Journalism Review
- The Somali TV journalist who fled terrorists for refuge in Dublin — Conor McMorrow, RTÉ
- AI propaganda campaign in Rwanda has been pushing pro-Kagame messages — a dangerous new trend in Africa — Morgan Wack, The Conversation
- Latin American governments use hostile speech, judicial harassment and spying to censor journalists — Silvia Higuera, LatAm Journalism Review
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