CPJ RELEASES JOURNALIST SECURITY HANDBOOK New York, February 27, 2003–In an effort to prepare journalists for potentially hazardous reporting duties in conflict zones, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) today released an online journalist security handbook, titled “On Assignment: Covering Conflict Safely” (click here). The handbook, which is geared toward editors and journalists covering conflict,…
New York, February 3, 2003–Colombian guerrillas freed two foreign journalists on February 1 after holding them hostage for 11 days in eastern Colombia. The National Liberation Army (ELN) released Ruth Morris, a British reporter raised in California; and Scott Dalton, a photographer from Texas, to an International Red Cross delegate early Saturday in the eastern…
Bogotá, Colombia, January 29, 2003—A top Colombian rebel commander said yesterday that two foreign journalists kidnapped by his fighters would be freed within days, while in a separate broadcast the rebels announced they wouldn’t release the hostages until the military halted operations in the zone where they were being held. Scott Dalton, a photographer from…
Bogotá, Colombia, January 24, 2003—A free-lance journalist with U.S. and Canadian citizenship and his two traveling companions have been freed in Colombia after allegedly being abducted by right-wing paramilitary fighters. Robert Pelton, Megan Smaker, and Mark Wedeven were turned over to a priest and human rights officials on the evening of January 23 in Colombia’s…
Bogotá, Colombia, January 23, 2003—Leftist rebels have detained two journalists, who were on assignment for The Los Angeles Times in the lawless Arauca Department, in eastern Colombia. Scott Dalton, a photographer from Texas, and reporter Ruth Morris, a British national, along with their driver, Madiel Ariza, were removed from their car at a rebel roadblock…
New York, January 2, 2003—A total of 19 journalists were killed worldwide for their work in 2002, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). This number marks a sharp decrease from 2001 when 37 journalists were killed, eight of them while covering the war in Afghanistan. Of the 19 journalists killed in 2002, most…
New York, December 3, 2002—Colombia’s Constitutional Court has overturned sections of a government decree requiring foreign journalists to obtain authorization from the Interior Ministry before entering state-run security zones. On November 25, the country’s nine-member Constitutional Court ruled unanimously that the earlier decree requiring that foreigners traveling to the zones get permission first from the…
New York, October 30, 2002—Rising crimes against journalists in Colombia prompted the Attorney General’s Office this month to add 12 new prosecutors to a unit dedicated to investigating attacks against the press, according to a statement from the office released on Monday, October 28. The unit, which previously had four prosecutors based in the capital,…
New York, October 25, 2002—The Colombian government announced yesterday that it will require foreign journalists to obtain authorization from the Interior Ministry before entering two state-run security zones. Yesterday’s announcement clarified an earlier decree, released on September 9, requiring all foreigners traveling to the zones to get permission from the government first. It was unclear…