Impunity in the Philippines: No exaggeration
When we launched CPJ’s new Impunity Index today in Manila, the government of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo reacted viscerally. Just after we released the report, which prominently features the Philippines, Presidential Press Secretary Cerge Remonde sent out a statement to journalists by text message describing the report as “a bit of an exaggeration.”
Seeking justice for Marlene Garcia-Esperat
Today CPJ launched its 2009 Global Impunity Index in Manila to mark the fourth anniversary of the murder of Marlene Garcia-Esperat, left, a Philippine columnist who reported on corruption in the government’s agriculture department. Garcia-Esperat was gunned down in her home in front of her family in a case that has become emblematic of the…
Getting Away With Murder 2009
CPJ’s Impunity Index spotlights countrieswhere journalists are slain and killers go free New York, March 23, 2009 — The already murderous conditions for the press in Sri Lanka and Pakistan deteriorated further in the past year, the Committee to Protect Journalists has found in its newly updated Impunity Index, a list of countries where journalists…
Philippine radio commentator shot and critically wounded
New York, March 9, 2009–Following the murder attempt against radio journalist Nilo Labares, the head reporter at DXCC Radio Mindanao Network, the Committee to Protect Journalists called today for a thorough investigation into the shooting and an end to impunity in crimes against journalists.
Philippine radio journalist survives shooting attempt
Unidentified gunmen fired several times at radio journalist Charie “Che” Indelible near his boarding house in the town of Kalibo, Aklan province, on January 2, 2009, according to the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility and local news reports. The reason for the attack on the director and anchor of DYYM Hot FM, a government-run…
Attacks on the Press in 2008: Philippines
Four years after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo moved to create a police task force dedicated to investigating journalist murders, CPJ research showed the impunity rate in these cases remained about 90 percent, one of the highest in the world. A CPJ study into slain journalists worldwide found that the absence of justice tended to promote a…
Radio commentator shot, killed in Mindanao
New York, January 23, 2009–The Committee to Protect Journalists urges a prompt and thorough investigation into the murder of Philippine radio commentator Badrodin Abbas, who was shot by two assailants late Wednesday in Cotabato City on the southern island of Mindanao.
Press freedom in the news 12/19/08
Making news today is yesterday’s release of our year-end analysis of the deadliest countries for journalists. The report found that 41 journalists were killed for their work in 2008, with Iraq named the most deadly for the sixth straight year. The Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse all ran stories outlining the report’s findings yesterday. Today the story is receiving widespread coverage in both the…