2009

Responding to reports that arrest warrants have been issued for a police officer and accomplices charged with the August 2008 murder of Philippine journalist Dennis Cuesta, we released this statement today…

Thailand’s Internet–once open and free–is fast morphing into one of Asia’s more censored cyberspaces. But a new group of concerned Thai citizens, known as the Thai Netizen Network (TNN), is bidding to turn back the tide of government censorship through advocacy and monitoring. 

In response to Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s public comments disavowing any official responsibility for attacks on Sri Lankan journalists and warning international broadcasters they will be “chased away” for a reporting bias against the government, we issued this statement…

New York, January 30, 2009–The Committee to Protect Journalists is gravely concerned about mounting government threats to media and Internet freedom in Thailand, including legal action against community radio stations and censoring thousands of Web sites.

New York, January 29, 2009–A South Korean blogger in custody since January 7, charged with spreading false information online, should be set free, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. 

CPJ wrote to the prime minister of Thailand today to express our grave concern about the country’s fast-deteriorating media climate and to call on him to decisively reaffirm Thailand’s commitment to a free press and open Internet.

New York, January 23, 2009–The Committee to Protect Journalists urges a prompt and thorough investigation into the murder of Philippine radio commentator Badrodin Abbas, who was shot by two assailants late Wednesday in Cotabato City on the southern island of Mindanao. 

New York, January 23, 2009–President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government must act to stem a worsening security crisis in the media in the wake of another attack on a Sri Lankan newspaper editor outside the capital, Colombo, this morning, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Our alert released yesterday about the landmark decision to convict three Colombian officials in the 2003 murder of radio commentator José Emeterio Rivas is receiving coverage around the world today. The Associated Press has stories in both English and Spanish and the Swedish-language Medie Varlden newspaper has coverage.

The murder of prominent Sri Lankan editor Lasantha Wickramatunga remains in the news with The New York Times running an editorial about him over the weekend. The Daily Times of Pakistan also has coverage of Wickramatunga’s death, which has garnered worldwide attention with the publication of the editor’s final column–it explained why he felt compelled to risk…