Claims police spied on two journalists revive surveillance fears of Colombia’s press
When Claudia Morales’s six-year-old daughter asks about her mother’s bodyguards, the Colombian journalist tells her they are colleagues. “She’s too young to understand,” Morales, who works for the Bogotá-based Caracol Radio in the city of Armenia, told CPJ in a telephone interview. Vicky Dávila, the news director of LA Fm Radio who also has private…
CPJ Newsletter: A year in review
Over the past year, CPJ has documented anti-press violations all over the world, cases of journalists killed, imprisoned, abducted, or threatened in relation to their work. You can see all of our coverage at our website, www.cpj.org. But here at CPJ Impact we also highlight those times when CPJ has stepped in and advocated for…
Getting Away With Murder
CPJ’s 2015 Global Impunity Index spotlights countries where journalists are slain and the killers go free Published October 8, 2015 Elisabeth Witchel/CPJ Impunity Campaign Consultant The ambush of a convoy in South Sudan and the hacking deaths of bloggers in Bangladesh this year propelled the two nations onto CPJ’s Global Impunity Index, which spotlights countries…
Colombian journalist shot to death in Huila state
Bogotá, Colombia, September 11, 2015–A Colombian journalist was shot dead on Thursday in front of the radio station where she worked, according to news reports. Flor Alba Núñez Vargas had received threats in connection with her reporting, a local journalist told the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Colombia releases suspect in attack on journalist Jineth Bedoya
Bogotá, June 4, 2015–The Colombian attorney general’s office announced Monday that charges have been dropped against Alejandro Cárdenas Orozco, a paramilitary fighter who confessed to taking part in the 2000 kidnapping of Colombian journalist Jineth Bedoya, who was also raped in the attack, according to news reports. Cárdenas later retracted his confession, according to reports.
Colombian president tells CPJ he will prioritize combating impunity in anti-press attacks
Bogotá, Colombia, May 27, 2015–In a meeting on Tuesday with the Committee to Protect Journalists and the Colombian press freedom group Foundation for a Free Press, or FLIP, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos pledged to prioritize combating impunity in attacks against the press.
Fabricated attacks by Colombian journalists mask real dangers
Although Colombian journalists are frequently threatened by Marxist guerrillas, criminal gangs, and corrupt politicians trying to silence them, two recent cases that created widespread concern–including alerts from CPJ–were fabricated by the very reporters who claimed to have been targeted.
Officials sentenced in Colombia for spying on journalists
Bogotá, May 1, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the sentencing on Thursday by the Colombian Supreme Court of two former senior government officials for their roles in an illegal surveillance program. The program, which occurred while former President Álvaro Uribe was in office, involved spying on some of the country’s most prominent journalists as…