State Department pressures VOA to kill Taliban interview
New York, September 27, 2001—Under pressure from the U.S. Department of State, the Voice of America (VOA) recently delayed airing a story containing parts of an exclusive interview with the leader of Afghanistan’s Taliban movement, Mullah Mohammed Omar. The federally funded broadcaster’s decision came after Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage and senior National…
U.S. PHOTOJOURNALIST AMONG WORLD TRADE CENTER DEAD
New York, September 20, 2001—An American free-lance news photographer is among the 233 confirmed dead in the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Several other media workers have been reported injured or missing. As of today, CNN reported, the confirmed death toll in the World Trade Center attacks stands at 233, with…
Controversial radio journalist killed
New York, September 18, 2001—Guatemalan radio journalist Jorge Mynor Alegría Armendáriz was murdered at around 10 p.m. on the evening of September 5, CPJ has confirmed. Alegría was shot at least five times outside his home in Puerto Barrios, a port city located on the Caribbean coast in Izabal Department. His personal effects were untouched,…
Supreme Court refuses to consider lifting ban on controversial book
New York, August 29, 2001—The Chilean Supreme Court has refused to consider journalist Alejandra Matus’ appeal against the court-ordered banning of The Black Book of Chilean Justice, her muckraking book about the Chilean judiciary. Matus’ book was banned more than two years ago. Since then, several court rulings have upheld the ban, even though a…
Radio station bombed in Medellín
New York, August 29, 2001—On the evening of August 23, a powerful bomb exploded in a street behind the Medellín offices of Caracol Radio, an affiliate of the national Caracol Radio Network, according to local news reports. The blast partially destroyed Caracol’s broadcasting facilities along with nearby buildings and houses. At least 35 people suffered…
Journalist murdered on eve of scheduled testimony in defamation case
New York, August 27, 2001—In a letter sent today to Rio de Janeiro State attorney general Francesco Conte, CPJ expressed deep concern about the August 16 murder of journalist Mário Coelho de Almeida Filho and requested more information about the case. Coelho was killed one day before he was to testify in a criminal defamation…