2009

Suspected militants fired at two low-flying military helicopters in Basilan province in the southern Philippines on August 16, 2009, injuring two journalists who were on board, according to local and international reports. The militants were thought to belong to the Abu Sayyaf Group, which is allegedly linked to Al-Qaida.

PBS’s “Wide Angle” aired “Eyes of the Storm” last week, a documentary on Cyclone Nargis and its aftermath. Like Anders Ostergaard’s recent film “Burma VJ” on citizen reporters during the monk-led protests in 2007, which we wrote about in April, “Wide Angle” contrasts independent reports filmed at great risk with the junta’s state media claims…

New York, August 24, 2009–Authorities in Pakistan’s northwest tribal regions must immediately investigate today’s murder of Afghan journalist Janullah Hashimzada, the Committee to Protect Journalists said.

This week, CPJ’s Shawn W. Crispin examined the incredible risks and challenges confronting witnesses to journalist murders in the Philippines. Crispin’s report, “Under Oath, Under Threat,” featured Bob Flores, a man who has demonstrated extraordinary courage in identifying a gunman in the slaying of radio journalist Dennis Cuesta. Crispin and I had met Flores earlier…

New York, August 20, 2009–Security forces obstructed, assaulted, and detained Afghan and foreign journalists in Kabul and elsewhere in Afghanistan today, enforcing an official gag order on news of violent incidents during the presidential election. A spokesman for President Hamid Karzai told the press that information about attacks would discourage voter turnout. 

CPJ spoke with three Kabul-based journalists to learn how they and their colleagues around the country responded to the government’s request to mute coverage of violence during polling hours today.

“When we were in that car and he was pointing that gun at us … I thought, ‘We’re done. We’re not getting out of here alive.'”

The shooting death last year of Radio Mindanao Network broadcaster Dennis Cuesta raised the realization among journalists here that the profession we know and love could cost us life and limb.