Americas

2018

  
Police control traffic in a street in Ecuador's capital, Quito, in February 2017. Three members of a reporting team were abducted on March 26 while reporting in the country's northern Esmeraldas province. (Reuters/Mariana Bazo)

Two journalists, driver kidnapped in Ecuador near Colombia border

New York, March 27, 2018 — The Committee to Protect Journalists today called for the immediate release of three members of a reporting team from the daily El Comercio newspaper, who were kidnapped yesterday morning in northern Ecuador near the Colombian border.

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Waves break over the sea wall in Veracruz, Mexico in September 2017. Veracruz is one of the most dangerous areas in the Western Hemisphere for journalists, according to CPJ research. (Reuters/Victor Yanez)

Mexican reporter killed in Veracruz state

Chihuahua City, March 23, 2018–Authorities in Mexico’s Veracruz state must undertake a credible and exhaustive investigation into the murder of journalist Leobardo Vázquez Atzin, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Vázquez was shot to death the evening of March 21 by unknown assailants in the restaurant he owned in the town of Gutiérrez Zamora,…

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A worker steam cleans a Canadian flag in Montreal, Quebec, in 2015. Radio-Canada is appealing a Quebec Superior Court ruling that reporter Marie-Maude Denis should reveal her sources. (Reuters/Jim Young)

Quebec court orders Radio-Canada reporter to reveal her sources

New York, March 23, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned a Quebec Superior Court ruling that ordered a journalist to reveal her sources. The court ruled yesterday that Marie-Maude Denis, an investigative journalist for the French-language public broadcaster Radio-Canada, must reveal her sources in an ongoing court case in which two politicians from the ruling…

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The Capitol Building is seen from Russell Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C. in December 2017. A group of senators is trying to attach the CLOUD Act to an upcoming spending bill that needs to be passed before midnight on March 23 to avoid government shutdown, according to news reports. (Reuters/Aaron P. Bernstein)

CPJ expresses concerns with the U.S. CLOUD Act

New York, March 20, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today expressed its concerns with the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data (CLOUD) Act and its potential to expose journalists to targeting by foreign governments. The CLOUD Act would make it easier for some foreign governments to obtain data from U.S. technology companies and allow U.S.…

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Ecuador pledges to reform repressive media law

Country needs free press for Moreno’s fight against corruption Quito, Ecuador, March 16, 2018 –The government of Ecuador pledged in a meeting Wednesday with the Committee to Protect Journalists to reform an oppressive communications law this year and to invite international experts to visit the country and analyze Ecuador’s compliance with international legal standards.

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A screen shot of the new label on RT's YouTube channel. (CPJ)

YouTube labels on public broadcasters draw ire in US, Russia

With claims to more than one billion users consuming content in 76 languages, Google’s YouTube has become a core part of most media outlets’ dissemination strategy. And although there are 88 localized versions of the service, YouTube.com remains the largest and most influential platform for reaching a global audience. Which is why, when the site…

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Police arrest St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Mike Faulk in September 2017. Faulk is one of at least 10 journalists detained in the city late last year when police used the tactic of kettling during protests. (David Carson/St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

Journalists covering protests in US risk getting caught up in police kettling tactic

On September 17 last year, St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Mike Faulk was covering protests over the acquittal of a former police officer in the killing in 2011 of man named Anthony Lamar Smith. At about 11 p.m., officers formed a line across Washington Avenue near Tucker Boulevard in downtown St. Louis, and officers in full…

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Protesters demonstrate against a KKK rally in Charlottesville, VA, in July 2017. Journalists reporting on white supremacists say they face threats and harassment. (AP/Steve Helber)

Journalists covering US white supremacists must weigh risks to selves and families

Michael Edison Hayden was one of the first foreign journalists on the ground after the Nepalese earthquake in 2015– the “ground was still shaking” when he arrived, he said. He’s reported from the disputed territory between India and Pakistan in Kashmir, and gone door-to-door in Phoenix, searching for a mass killer. But, Hayden said, reporting…

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Airplanes fly in formation in Santiago, Chile on March 3, 2017. The independent Santiago-based Center for Investigative Journalism on March 7 reported that Chilean police intercepted calls, as well as WhatsApp and Telegrammessages, between five journalists and their sources. (Reuters/Ivan Alvarado)

Chilean police accused of spying on journalists

Bogotá, March 12, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today expressed its concern about reports that Chilean police spied on reporters as part of an intelligence operation in the southern La Araucanía region.

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Venus symbols are seen during an event where UN Women and rights groups launched a campaign against violence towards women as International Women's Day approaches, in Mexico City, Mexico in March 2018. CPJ has documented threats faced by women journalists across the globe. (Reuters/Henry Romero)

On International Women’s Day, CPJ looks at threats women journalists face

From imprisonment, sexual violence, cyber harassment, and even death, CPJ has documented threats faced by women journalists across the globe.

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2018