In Afghanistan, journalist pleads for Italian authorities to meet his kidnappers’ demands
New York, March 15, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists called for the immediate release of abducted La Repubblica reporter Daniele Mastrogiacomo, as his recorded appeals to authorities to meet the kidnappers’ demands were released today. The Pajhwok Afghan News agency in Kabul, the country’s largest independent wire service, received an audio tape of Mastrogiacomo saying…
CPJ: The world calls for the release of Daniele Mastrogiacomo
New York, March 13, 2007—Amid a growing public outcry more than a week after the abduction of La Repubblica journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo and two Afghan assistants, the Committee to Protect Journalists again adds its voice to the global call for their release. Mastrogiacomo, a journalist with 27 years of experience who was on assignment for…
CPJ calls for release of Italian journalist in Afghanistan
New York, March 9, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists joins colleagues in Afghanistan and around the world in calling for the release of La Repubblica correspondent Daniele Mastrogiacomo, missing since Sunday when he was abducted in southern Afghanistan. Mastrogiacomo appears to be held by a Taliban military group, which has told media organizations they are…
CPJ expresses alarm as Italian reporter goes missing in Afghanistan
New York, March 6, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by reports that Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo, a veteran reporter for the daily La Repubblica based in Afghanistan, has been out of contact with his newspaper since Sunday. The Taliban today said it had seized a man it alleged was a spy posing as…
In Afghanistan, U.S. troops confiscate pictures after attack
New York, March 5, 2007 — The Committee to Protect Journalists is disturbed by reports that U.S. soldiers deleted reporters’ photos and television footage of the aftermath of a suicide bomb attack on Sunday, in which several Afghan civilians were killed by U.S. fire. Soldiers deleted photos and videos taken by Associated Press freelance photographer…
Attacks on the Press in 2006: Preface
By Anderson CooperSilence. When a journalist is killed, more often than not, there is silence. In Russia, someone followed Anna Politkovskaya home and quietly shot her to death in her apartment building. The killer muffled the sound of the gun with a silencer. Her murder made headlines around the world in October, but from the…
Attacks on the Press 2006: Countries That Have Jailed Journalists
ALGERIA: 2 Djamel Eddine Fahassi, Alger Chaîne III IMPRISONED: May 6, 1995 Fahassi, a reporter for the state-run radio station Alger Chaîne III and a contributor to several Algerian newspapers, including the now-banned weekly of the Islamic Salvation Front, Al-Forqane, was abducted near his home in the al-Harrache suburb of the capital, Algiers, by four…
Attacks on the Press 2006: Afghanistan
AFGHANISTAN The Taliban Islamist militia re-emerged in Afghanistan while the government of President Hamid Karzai wavered in its commitment to Western-style media. Despite the proliferation of media outlets since the fall of the Taliban government in 2001, reporters complained of little or no cooperation from officials, who were unwilling to meet with them or allow…
Attacks on the Press 2006: United States
UNITED STATES After consuming the press freedom landscape for more than two years, an investigation into the leak of a CIA operative’s name wound down with a whimper. News organizations reported in August that special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald apparently knew from the day his investigation began in December 2003 that then-Deputy Secretary of State Richard…