New York, July 18, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) strongly condemns yesterday’s verdict convicting a Kansas-based free-circulation monthly, its publisher, and its editor of criminal defamation. Jurors found publisher David W. Carson and editor Ed Powers of The New Observer, as well as Observer Publications Inc., guilty on seven counts of criminal defamation.
New York, July 17, 2002—Haitian broadcast journalist Israel Jacky Cantave and his cousin, who went missing on July 15, were found tied and blindfolded by last night on the side of a road. Cantave, who is known for his in-depth reports on sensitive issues, works for Radio Caraïbes, which is based in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince.…
New York, July 16, 2002—Haitian broadcast journalist Israel Jacky Cantave has been missing since last night, and colleagues said that they fear he has been kidnapped in reprisal for his reporting. Guyler C. Delva, head of the Haitian Journalists Association told the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) that Cantave, who covers a range of sensitive…
New York, July 12, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has just learned that Mario Prada Díaz, of the weekly El Semanario Sabanero in the Santander Department in northeastern Colombia, was killed this week. His death occurred the same week in which another journalist in the region was threatened at gunpoint, one day after a…
Bogotá, July 1, 2002—The owner of a radio station, who recently had alerted the public to the presence of paramilitary fighters in the region, was shot and killed in northeastern Colombia. Efraín Varela Noriega, owner of Radio Meridiano70, was driving home from a university graduation in Arauca Department on the afternoon of June 28 when…
New York, June 20, 2002—In a letter sent today to Mario Dupuy, Haiti’s Secretary of State for Communications, the Committee to Protect Journalists expressed concerns about the government’s plan to develop a legally enforceable code of ethics for the press. In the letter, CPJ asked for more details about the proposed legislation and suggested opening…
Port-au-Prince, June 13, 2002—After a three-day fact-finding mission, a delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has found that journalists in Haiti face a troubling atmosphere of intimidation and fear. Haitian journalists have told CPJ of violent attacks and threats that largely remain unpunished. Some have felt obliged to censor themselves, go into hiding,…
New York, June 11, 2002—A Brazilian judge has granted an injunction banning the country’s media from publishing any information regarding proceedings against another judge. This is the second case of prior censorship in Brazil within two weeks. On May 23, Judge Zélia Maria Antunes Alves, of the São Paulo State Court of Justice, granted an…