How the Taliban’s propaganda empire consumed Afghan media
In four years, the Taliban have annihilated Afghanistan’s independent media sector and supplanted it with their own propaganda empire and sophisticated digital bots that flood social media with pro-Taliban content. CPJ interviewed 10 Afghan journalists, inside and outside the country, who said that independent media, which used to reach millions of people, have largely been…
CPJ urges Hong Kong to free Jimmy Lai as trial near its end
New York, August 13, 2025—As closing arguments are set to begin on August 14 in the national security trial of Jimmy Lai, founder of the pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, the Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Hong Kong authorities to drop all charges against the 77-year-old publisher and release him immediately and unconditionally. Lai, whose…
Sri Lanka’s counter-terrorism police summon Tamil journalist documenting mass graves
New Delhi, August 12, 2025—Sri Lankan authorities must immediately stop harassing photojournalist Kanapathipillai Kumanan, who has been summoned by the counterterrorism police for questioning, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. A police notice, reviewed by CPJ, ordered Kumanan to appear in the northern town of Alampil’s Counter Terrorism and Investigation Division (CTID) office on…
Pakistani authorities block journalist Asad Ali Toor from traveling overseas
New York, August 11, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Pakistani authorities to drop all travel restrictions against independent journalist Asad Ali Toor, who was blocked from traveling to the United States at the Islamabad airport on August 8, according to the journalist. Toor, who had been arrested and beaten prior years, said he was on his…
Bangladeshi journalist hacked to death for filming assault
New Delhi, August 11, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Bangladeshi authorities to swiftly and thoroughly investigate the brutal killing of journalist Asaduzzaman Tuhin and bring all those responsible to justice. Tuhin, a staff reporter for the Bangla-language daily Protidiner Kagoj in Gazipur, a suburb of Dhaka, was chased and hacked to death by…
CPJ, partners welcome 110-year graft sentence for main suspect in Philippine journalist’s murder
August 5, 2025—Press freedom organizations Free Press Unlimited (FPU), the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) welcome the corruption conviction of former Palawan governor Joel T. Reyes – the alleged mastermind behind the 2011 murder of journalist Gerry Ortega – handed down last week by the Sandiganbayan, the Philippines’ anti-graft court in Quezon City. Reyes…
A year after new Bangladesh leader vows reform, journalists still behind bars
New York, August 1, 2025—On March 5, in a crowded Dhaka courtroom, journalist Farzana Rupa stood without a lawyer as a judge moved to register yet another murder case against her. Already in jail, she quietly asked for bail. The judge said the hearing was only procedural. “There are already a dozen cases piling up against me,” she said….
Death threats target India journalist Sneha Barve, weeks after assault
New Delhi, August 1, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists urges the chief minister of the western state of Maharashtra to take immediate action to protect Indian journalist Sneha Barve, who received fresh death threats on July 24, three weeks after a brutal assault. “It is outrageous that journalist Sneha Barve, who was nearly killed for…
Radio journalist Erwin Labitad Segovia shot dead in the Philippines
Bangkok, July 22, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Philippine authorities to launch a swift and credible investigation into Monday’s killing of Radio WOW FM journalist Erwin Labitad Segovia, who was shot by unidentified assailants while riding his motorcycle home after his morning broadcast. Segovia was pronounced dead on arrival at a hospital in…
Mob attacks Indian journalist covering reports of illegal construction in Maharashtra
New Delhi, July 15, 2025—Authorities in India’s western state of Maharashtra must bring all of journalist Sneha Barve’s attackers to justice and take decisive steps to ensure press members can safely do their jobs, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. Barwe, the founder of the Samarth Bharat Pariwar YouTube-based news channel, was brutally beaten July 4…