2016

CPJ helps secure release of over 50 imprisoned journalists On December 23, Okke Ornstein walked out of prison.

As a new presidential administration prepares to take over the U.S., CPJ examines the status of press freedom, including the challenges journalists face from surveillance, harassment, limited transparency, the questioning of libel laws, and other factors.

New York, December 20, 2016–Dutch journalist Okke Ornstein is due to be released unconditionally from a Panamanian prison by December 23, his lawyer Manuel Succari told CPJ today. The journalist was named in a list published by the government today of people whose sentences were reduced as part of a presidential pardon. Ornstein was arrested…

Deadly violence against the media eased in 2016 from recent record levels as the number of journalists singled out for murder declined. A CPJ special report by Elana Beiser and Elisabeth Witchel

On June 25, unidentified assailants shot and killed Álvaro Aceituno López, director of Radio Ilusión in Coatepeque, a town in southeastern Guatemala. López often criticized local government officials when presenting the news and during guest appearances on other programs. But to date, CPJ has been unable to determine if Aceituno was killed for his work…

As a new presidential administration prepares to take over the U.S., CPJ examines the status of press freedom, including the challenges journalists face from surveillance, harassment, limited transparency, the questioning of libel laws, and other factors.

A faint smile appears on Okke Ornstein’s face as he recalls what happened last summer, when he traveled with a group of refugees through Europe to document their trip for a Dutch radio broadcaster.

At least 81 journalists are imprisoned in Turkey, all of them facing anti-state charges, in the wake of an unprecedented crackdown that has included the shuttering of more than 100 news outlets. The 259 journalists in jail worldwide is the highest number recorded since 1990. A CPJ special report by Elana Beiser

Mexico City, December 12, 2016–Police in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua should conduct a full and credible investigation into the murder of Jesús Adrián Rodríguez Samaniego, a reporter for the radio stations Antena 102.5 FM and Antena 760 AM, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Rodríguez was fatally shot on December 10, his…

There was poignancy to the Paris summit of the Open Government Partnership, as leaders from government and civil society took the stage to defend a political ideology under siege: liberal democracy. French President François Hollande, who amid weak public support announced he will not seek re-election in 2017, called democracy “so fragile and so precious.”…