Journalists in India face attacks, legal action, and threats
In September and October 2020, lists circulating online allegedly identifying journalists as “anti-Hindu” or as “Indian agents” named dozens of local members of the press, police opened investigations into at least two reporters and one media executive, and authorities attacked at least one journalist during the course of his reporting, according to news reports and…
Hong Kong police charge 2 reporters with obstruction over coverage of May protests
In November 2020, Hong Kong police criminally charged two journalists over their coverage of protests the previous May, according to news reports. On November 3, police charged student journalist Nelson Tang with “obstructing police” and “resisting arrest,” according to news reports and a statement from the Hong Kong Baptist University Students’ Union Editorial Board, a…
Record number of journalists jailed worldwide
Editor’s note: In 2019, CPJ published a new database of attacks on the press. Numbers for each subsequent prison census are liable to adjust yearly as CPJ learns of arrests, releases, or deaths in prison. For the most recent data, see cpj.org/data/imprisoned/. The number of journalists jailed globally because of their work hit a new high in 2020…
Journalists jailed for social media “terrorism” highlight content moderation challenges
A journalist in China uploaded a video to YouTube criticizing the Chinese government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan. Another, in Vietnam, left a state-owned newspaper but continued posting stories they wouldn’t let her cover on Facebook. In Egypt, a freelance photographer streamed an anti-government protest from his balcony on Facebook Live. In Iran,…
Bangladesh High Court directs authorities to “block” journalist’s social media channels
The Bangladesh High Court directed authorities to “block” journalist Kanak Sarwar’s social media pages, including YouTube and Facebook, on December 8, 2020 after he interviewed a politician in Bangladesh on YouTube, according to Sarwar and local news reports. It was not clear if the authorities had contacted YouTube or Facebook regarding Sarwar’s accounts, which he…
Philippine police arrest journalist Lady Ann Salem for alleged weapons possession
Bangkok, December 14, 2020 – Philippine authorities should immediately release journalist Lady Ann Salem without charge, and open an investigation into police officers’ alleged planting of weapons during her arrest, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. At about 9 a.m. on December 10, police arrested Salem, an editor at the Manila Today English-language news website and…
Hong Kong police charge Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai with ‘foreign collusion’ under national security law
Taipei, December 11, 2020 – The Hong Kong police force today charged media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai, founder of Next Digital Limited, which owns the Apple Daily newspaper, with collusion with foreign forces under Hong Kong’s new national security law, a charge that carries up to life in prison if convicted, according to the Apple Daily…
Authorities detain Chinese staff member of Bloomberg News in Beijing
Taipei, December 11, 2020—Chinese authorities should immediately release and drop any pending charges against Haze Fan, a staff member in the Bloomberg News Beijing bureau, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On Monday, plainclothes security officials in Beijing detained Fan from her apartment on suspicion of participating in activities endangering national security, according to…
Journalist Malalai Maiwand shot dead in Afghanistan
New York, December 10, 2020—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the killing of journalist Malalai Maiwand in Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province this morning. Maiwand, a reporter at Enikass Radio and TV in Nangarhar, was on her way to work in Jalalabad, the provincial capital, around 7 a.m. when unidentified gunmen opened fire on her vehicle,…
Indian government gives go ahead for contempt proceedings against cartoonist
New Delhi, December 8, 2020 — The Committee to Protect Journalists expressed alarm over a petition to the Indian Supreme Court calling for it to initiate criminal contempt proceedings against political cartoonist Rachita Taneja for her comics about the judiciary. On December 5, Aditya Kashyap, a law student and member of the student union associated…