Amicus briefs support CPJ’s appeal in Khashoggi lawsuit
Nearly three dozen media and press freedom organizations, as well as 10 major human rights organizations and experts, have signed on to amicus briefs in support of CPJ’s appeal in its lawsuit seeking documents on whether U.S. intelligence agencies knew of threats to Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi before his murder by the Saudi government….
NYPD subpoenaed reporter’s phone records in leak case
New York, July 27, 2020 – The New York City Police Department should refrain from subpoenaing journalists’ phone records or other information that could reveal sourcing, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On July 14, a New York-based freelance journalist who works for the Daily Mail received a letter stating that their phone records…
US federal law officers attack journalists covering protests in Portland
New York, July 24, 2020 – U.S. federal law enforcement agencies must ensure that journalists can cover protests freely, and must refrain from attacking members of the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. “All law enforcement agencies must stop using aggressive tactics against journalists covering protests in the United States,” said CPJ Program…
Paraguayan soldiers assault, detain journalist Roberto Esquivel
Miami, July 23, 2020 – Paraguayan authorities must thoroughly investigate the detention and assault of journalist Roberto Esquivel and ensure those responsible are held to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On July 18, Paraguayan soldiers detained Esquivel, a local freelance journalist, in the city of Bella Vista Norte, near the Brazilian border,…
Christiane Amanpour ‘deeply troubled’ by US press freedom developments, she tells Helsinki Commission
New York, July 23, 2020— Christiane Amanpour, CNN’s chief international anchor and a senior adviser to CPJ, today called on Congress to protect independent media and press freedom in the United States, saying, “Your democratic legitimacy depends on it.” In prepared remarks for a hearing of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, better…
Journalist Julia Gavarrete’s home robbed, laptop stolen in El Salvador
On July 2, 2020, between 3:30 and 6:30 p.m., unidentified individuals broke into journalist Julia Gavarrete’s home in San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador, and stole her laptop, according to news reports and the journalist, who spoke to CPJ in a phone interview. Gavarrete, a reporter for the independent news website Gato Encerrado, told…
Canadian private investigative firm compiled reports on journalists
Information and Systems Networks Corporation (ISN), a Canadian private investigative firm, conducted background checks on two journalists at the behest of a law firm, according to one of the journalists, Jesse Brown, the publisher of the Canadaland news website and podcast, who spoke to CPJ in a phone interview and shared one page of the…
Venezuelan authorities charge 2 journalists, imprison 1, under ‘anti-hate’ law
Miami, July 21, 2020 – Venezuelan authorities should immediately drop all charges against journalists Otilio Rodríguez and Nicmer Evans, release Evans immediately, and stop using the country’s anti-hate law to persecute the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On July 13, at about 2 p.m., police and counterintelligence agents raided Evans’ Caracas home…
Prospects bleak for recovery of US media presence in China
The slugfest between China and the U.S. over the treatment of media workers in each country appears to have paused. Rather than expel each other’s journalists, as they did a few months ago, each side in early July imposed registration and reporting requirements on those remaining—still many more Chinese in the U.S. than Americans in…
Honduran journalist David Romero dies after contracting COVID-19 in jail
Managua, Nicaragua, July 19, 2020–Honduran journalist David Romero Ellner died yesterday around 7 a.m. of respiratory failure after contracting COVID-19 while imprisoned at the Támara National Penitentiary, according to newspaper La Prensa. Authorities had transferred Romero to the National Cardiopulmonary Institute on July 5, according to newspaper El Heraldo. “We are shocked and saddened by…