New York, October 12, 2010–Cuban journalist Alfredo Felipe Fuentes, left, was freed from prison on Friday and exiled to Spain as part of a July agreement between the Havana government and the Catholic Church. Seventeen journalists jailed in the 2003 Black Spring crackdown have now been freed and exiled as part of the agreement. “I feel…
New York, October 7, 2010–A Panamanian court of appeals has convicted two TV journalists of criminal defamation and banned them from professional work for one year, news reports said. While President Ricardo Martinelli said he would pardon the journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today that lawmakers should repeal all criminal penalties for defamation.
The severity of the nearly 20-year jail sentence handed down to veteran Iranian blogger Hossein Derakhshan, left, has shocked many exiled Iranian journalists and bloggers with whom I’ve spoken. It’s also reinforced their belief that the best way to help jailed colleagues is not through quiet diplomacy but by making a lot of noise.
New York, October 1, 2010–As a police rebellion threw Ecuador into chaos on Thursday, the government of President Rafael Correa ordered local radio and TV stations to interrupt programming and carry state news broadcasts. A dozen reporters were injured covering the police revolt. Today, the Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the government’s censorship of broadcast…
Back in 2004, Iraqi gunmen loyal to the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr abducted U.S. freelance photographer Paul Taggert because, as they later told The Associated Press, they thought he was a spy. Now, a new poster from the U.S. Transportation Security Administration reinforces dangerous misconceptions by depicting a photographer as a terrorist.
Molly Norris, a political cartoonist for Seattle Weekly, went into hiding in September 2010 because of threats made after her tongue-in-cheek call for an “Everybody Draw Muhammad Day,” according to Seattle Weekly. The call was included in a cartoon Norris drew to protest a decision by the cable television network Comedy Central not to broadcast…
UPDATE, OCTOBER 22, 2010: CPJ’s board of directors sets policy for the organization. At the October 18 meeting of the board, directors discussed the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act, known as COICA. The September 30 blog post below incorrectly stated that CPJ had “joined with other press freedom and civil liberty organizations and the…
New York, September 27, 2010–Imprisoned Cuban journalist Miguel Galván Gutierrez was released from jail and flown to Madrid on Saturday as part of a July agreement between the Havana government and the Catholic Church. Sixteen journalists jailed in the 2003 Black Spring crackdown have now been freed and exiled as part of the agreement.
Mexican President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa had a message to deliver and it wasn’t about press freedom. After hearing the concerns presented by a joint delegation from CPJ and the Miami-based Inter American Press Association last week, the president wanted us to know something: He didn’t go looking for a fight against the drug cartels.