Brazil / Americas

São Paulo, May 30, 2019 — Authorities in Rio de Janeiro must make every effort to find and prosecute those responsible for the killing of journalist Robson Giorno, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Sao Paulo, April 16, 2019–Brazil’s Supreme Court should revoke a decision to censure and fine an online magazine and refrain from censoring media outlets, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

First as a candidate and now in his first months as president, Jair Bolsonaro has made his disdain for the media crystal clear. Ministers, supporters, and his family members have followed his lead by no longer offering interviews, attacking and blocking critical reporters on social media, and calling them out as “fake news.”

Long before one of their photographers was harassed on election night in Brazil, the editors at Fortaleza newspaper O Povo were meeting with their readers and staff to discuss the increasingly polarized environment and how to deal with it.

Journalists from Saudi Arabia to Afghanistan to the U.S. were targeted for murder in 2018 in reprisal for their work, bringing the total of journalists killed on duty to its highest in three years. The number of journalists killed in conflict fell to its lowest level since 2011. A CPJ special report by Elana Beiser

New York, December 13, 2018–Brazilian authorities should cease prosecuting journalists for defamation and repeal the country’s outdated criminal defamation laws, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Police took Paulo Cezar de Andrade Prado, a blogger known as “Paulinho,” into custody on November 9 to serve a prison sentence for criminal defamation, according to local…

For the third year in a row, 251 or more journalists are jailed around the world, suggesting the authoritarian approach to critical news coverage is more than a temporary spike. China, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia imprisoned more journalists than last year, and Turkey remained the world’s worst jailer. A CPJ special report by Elana Beiser

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined five other rights organizations to call on Brazilian presidential candidates to denounce the threats and violence against journalists covering the electoral campaign, and urge their supports to stop harassing reporters.

The people who run Radio Yandê, a Brazilian digital portal dedicated to indigenous issues, have many words to define what they do, but even though the site has stories, video and audio, none of those definitions include the word journalist.

São Paulo, September 25, 2018–Police in the Brazilian state of Ceará must act quickly to bring the gunmen who injured radio owner and commentator Sandoval Braga to justice and ensure the safety of employees at Radio União FM 96.5, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.