Americas

  
Óscar Martínez, pictured at CPJ's 2016 International Press Freedom Awards, says journalists should discuss safety with their sources. (CPJ/Getty/Jeff Zelevansky)

Óscar Martínez: Trust and safety for journalists and sources is vital in El Salvador

Óscar Martínez knows first-hand the dangers of reporting on crime and gang violence. The co-founder of Sala Negra (Black Room)–an investigative reporting project run by the El Salvadoran new outlet El Faro–says he and his colleagues have been threatened and harassed for their hard-hitting coverage. But, Martínez says, their sources are equally at risk of…

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Brazil's Chamber of Deputies holds a session on April 12 with only two deputies after the Supreme Court announced corruption investigations into a number of politicians. A journalist has questioned why the court released details of his telephone call with a source, despite him not being part of the investigation. (AP/Eraldo Peres)

Released recording highlights polarized atmosphere for Brazil’s political reporters

The release of a private conversation between a well-known journalist and his source has shaken the journalistic community in Brazil and highlighted the increasingly polarized and uneasy terrain in which political reporters work.

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A screen shot shows Venezuelan lawmaker Diosdado Cabello on his program on state broadcaster VTV.

Venezuelan court fines news website $500,000 for ‘moral damage’ to politician

Bogotá, Colombia, June 2, 2017–A Venezuelan court’s ruling ordering a news website to pay the equivalent of nearly half a million U.S. dollars in damages for republishing an article about a politician threatens press freedom, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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Protesters in Mexico condemn the violence and killing of journalists. In the latest attack, a knifeman cut off part of a reporter's ear in Quintana Roo state. (AFP/Hector Guerrero)

Reporter threatened and has part of ear cut off in Mexico’s Quintana Roo state

Mexico City, June 1, 2017–Authorities in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo must undertake a swift investigation into the attack on journalist Carlos Barrios, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. An unidentified man threatened Barrios, who reports for the news website Aspectos, and cut off part of his ear with a knife, his editor…

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US congressional candidate in Montana charged with assaulting reporter

May 25, 2017 — The alleged assault of Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs by a candidate competing in today’s special congressional election in Montana sends an unacceptable signal that physical assault is an appropriate response to unwanted questioning by a journalist, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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Members of a citizen's "self-defense" group patrol La Mira, Mexico, May 9, 2014. The Tierra Caliente region has been the site of fighting between organized crime and vigilante groups for years. (AP/Eduardo Verdugo)

Mexican journalist abducted in Michoacán state

Mexico City, May 22, 2017–Mexican authorities must undertake every effort to secure the safe release of journalist Salvador Adame Pardo, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Gunmen abducted Adame, director of the television station 6TV, on May 18 from the central Mexican town of Nueva Italia.

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Mexican journalists robbed

Unidentified gunmen in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero on May 13, 2017, robbed seven journalists and threatened to kill them, according to press reports and other journalists who spoke with the victims.

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How US Espionage Act can be used against journalists covering leaks

Earlier this week, Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly joked about Trump using a saber on the press and U.S. Senator Jim Risch told CNN the press should be questioning the Washington Post about its sources. Then, on May 16, The New York Times reported that President Donald Trump allegedly asked former FBI director…

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Mexican journalist flees state after receiving threats

Independent journalist Fabián García Castrejón fled the western Mexican state of Nayarit on May 15, 2017, after someone painted threats on the wall of his home, according to the journalist, officials, and media reports.

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The author interprets Javier Valdez Cárdenas's acceptance speech at the 2011 International Press Freedom Awards in New York. Valdez 'combined the grit of the most battle-hardened reporter with the elegiac soul of a 19th century Romantic poet.' (CPJ)

Javier Valdez Cárdenas, brave and beloved Mexican journalist

When Mexican journalist Javier Valdez Cárdenas arrived in New York City in November 2011 to accept CPJ’s International Press Freedom Award, he and his staff had already suffered a grenade attack on the offices of their weekly, Ríodoce. Weeks after receiving the award, they were the victims of a denial of service (DOS) attack that…

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