Today, Pakistan’s most watched news channel, Geo News, was ordered off the air and fined by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA). Earlier this week, CPJ documented an attack on Zafar Aheer, an editor of the Urdu-language Daily Jang, by six masked men–the latest in a series of attacks, threats, and acts of intimidation…
New York, June 6, 2014–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a decision today by Pakistan’s Electronic Media Regulatory Authority to suspend the license of Geo News. The regulator said if the channel does not pay a fine of 10 million rupees (US$100,000) by the end of the 15-day suspension, it will remain off the air,…
New York, June 5, 2014–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the declaration today by leaders of the Group of Seven leading industrial nations that democratic governance and human rights should be integral to the post-2015 development agenda. The United Nations is seeking agreement on a broad set of sustainable development objectives to replace the Millennium…
New York, June 5, 2014–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release today of Tibetan documentary filmmaker Dhondup Wangchen, who was jailed in China in 2008 for shooting the film, “Leaving Fear Behind,” which documents conditions faced by Tibetans under Chinese rule. Wangchen was released from prison in Qinghai’s provincial capital, Xining, today, but faces…
After languishing in jail for 40 months, Mumbai-based journalist and activist Sudhir Dhawale has walked free. Dhawale was the only journalist in jail in India in late 2013, according to CPJ’s annual prison census. With his release, there are currently no other journalists behind bars in the country for work-related reasons.
In the aftermath of this week’s foreign policy speech by President Barack Obama and discussions on the imminent pullout of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, we need to think once again of the implications this retreat will have for the thousands of Afghans who for more than a decade have worked not only with the military,…
Hong Kong, May 29, 2014–Another journalist has been detained in China ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the detention of Xin Jian, who was arrested on May 13 and accused of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.”