Faces of impunity across the world
CPJ’s 2023 Global Impunity Index lists the top 12 countries where the murderers of journalists go free. But impunity knows no borders. The mosaic below shows the faces of slain journalists around the world. Beneath each journalist’s photo is the location of their death. Click the images for more details about these unsolved cases. (Photo grid by Geoff McGhee)
Mahoney: Biden’s Saudi policy stymies quest for Khashoggi justice
From pariah to potential partner. That’s how far Saudi Arabia has come for President Joe Biden in the five years since Riyadh sent a death squad to butcher journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The administration’s ongoing rehabilitation of the petrodollar kingdom and its de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, widely known as MBS, seems to…
Haiti joins list of countries where killers of journalists most likely to go unpunished
By Arlene Getz/CPJ Editorial Director The persistent lack of justice for murdered reporters is a major threat to press freedom. Ten years after the United Nations declared an international day to end impunity for crimes against journalists – and more than 30 years after CPJ began documenting these killings – almost 80% of their killings…
Journalist kidnappings rise in Haiti as violence spikes
At least six journalists have been kidnapped and released in Haiti over the past eight months as gangs have grown in strength since the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, with the groups forming alliances and calling for the armed overthrow of the government. Since February, CPJ has documented the murder of one journalist, several reporters forced to flee their…
Tipping the scales: Journalists’ lawyers face retaliation around the globe
The smears began the day Christian Ulate began representing jailed Guatemalan journalist José Rubén Zamora: tweets accusing the lawyer of being a leftist or questioning his legal credentials. He began to fear he was being surveilled. Ulate had taken over the case in August 2022 from two other lawyers, Romeo Montoya García and Mario Castañeda,…
Haitian rum manufacturer sues AyiboPost, editor-in-chief for criminal defamation
Miami, October 6, 2023—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about the criminal defamation suit filed by the owner of the rum company Rhum Barbancourt against the independent news website AyiboPost and its editor-in-chief, Widlore Mérancourt, and calls on Haitian authorities to repeal the country’s punitive criminal defamation laws, the organization said Friday. On September…
Journalist Jesús Gutiérrez shot dead in Mexican city near US border
Mexico City, October 6, 2023—Mexican authorities must credibly and transparently investigate the killing of journalist Jesús Gutiérrez Vergara who was shot dead in a city near the U.S. border, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. Gutiérrez, the founder and editor of Notiface, a Facebook-based news website, was talking with four off-duty policemen in the…
CPJ joins group calling for explanation of FBI raid linked to Tucker Carlson interview
The FBI used a search warrant to raid the home of freelance journalist Tim Burke on May 8, 2023, in Tampa, Fla., seizing most of his electronic devices, after Burke obtained outtakes of a 2022 Fox News interview by Tucker Carlson with the rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West. The Committee to Protect Journalists signed on…
Journalist Josh Kruger shot, killed in Philadelphia
New York, October 2, 2023—The Committee to Protect Journalists has called for police to investigate the motive for the fatal shooting of freelance journalist Josh Kruger near his Philadelphia home on Monday. “We are deeply disturbed by the killing of freelance journalist Josh Kruger and extend our condolences to his colleagues and loved ones,” said…
CPJ calls for accountability after Chilean journalist is shot covering military coup protest
São Paulo, September 21, 2023–The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Chilean authorities to investigate and hold accountable those who shot Javier Barría, a camera operator with privately owned news outlet MegaMedia, while he covered a protest on the anniversary of the country’s 1973 military coup. On September 11, Barría was working in the Villa…