Attacks on the Press

  
Exiled Ethiopian journalists perform a traditional coffee ceremony in a shared, cramped apartment in Nairobi. A wave of arrests prompted at least 30 Ethiopian journalists to flee into exile in 2014.  (CPJ/Nicole Schilit)

Conflating terrorism and journalism in Ethiopia

At the Lideta courthouse in Ethiopia’s capital city, Addis Ababa, stands a statue of a blindfolded woman holding a set of scales in her outstretched hand–a universal symbol of justice, here cast in metal of pinkish gold and wearing thick braids in her hair.

Read More ›

Journalists protest the imprisonment in Egypt of Al-Jazeera staffers Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed outside the network's offices in Sanaa, Yemen, on June 25, 2014. (Reuters/Khaled Abdullah)

We completely agree: Egyptian media in the era of President el-Sisi

If there were any doubt about who the presidential frontrunner would be in Egypt’s May 2014 elections, the Egyptian media made sure to strongly suggest that then-Defense Minister Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi was the only choice.

Read More ›

A journalist holds a placard at the headquarters of Zaman daily newspaper in Istanbul on December 14, 2014. Turkish police raided media outlets close to U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, including Zaman, and detained 23 people.  (Reuters/Murad Sezer)

Finding new ways to censor journalists in Turkey

The flood was foretold, and seemed inevitable. Even I, with my limited resources as a journalist and media monitor, raised the alarm years ago.

Read More ›

Supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi shout slogans against the military and government during a protest in Cairo on November 28, 2014. (Reuters/Mohamed Abd El Ghany)

Treating the Internet as the enemy in the Middle East

The snow and freezing temperatures that struck Saudi Arabia unexpectedly in December 2013 were newsworthy in a desert kingdom better known for its extreme heat. But the fact that the ensuing power outages at a regional prison left prisoners without power or heat for nearly a week was apparently off-limits to reporters.

Read More ›

A protester in London, dressed as a caricature of News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch, burns a government report on media abuses while another wearing a mask depicting Prime Minister David Cameron sits tied to a chair, November 29, 2012. (AP/Sang Tan)

Overzealous British media prompt overzealous backlash

In 2010, Andrew Norfolk was driving to an appointment when he heard a radio news report about a gang of men who had been convicted of the systematic sexual abuse of a teenager.

Read More ›

A woman from the Right2Know campaign protests with her child against the State Information Bill, which would enable the prosecution of whistleblowers, public advocates, and journalists who reveal corruption, in Cape Town on April 25, 2013. (AP/Schalk van Zuydam)

Outdated secrecy laws stifle the press in South Africa

Nelson Mandela regularly harangued the media once he’d been freed after 27 years of imprisonment by South Africa’s apartheid government. He would call individual journalists when he liked or disliked something they had written or when he wanted to advance a political lobby.

Read More ›

A man walks past a burial report including known Ebola cases at the Western area emergency response center in Freetown, Sierra Leone, on December 16, 2014. (Reuters/Baz Ratner)

Amid Ebola outbreak, West African governments try to isolate media

On the first Saturday of November 2014, when media owner and broadcaster David Tam Baryoh switched on the mic for his weekly “Monologue” show on independent Citizen FM in Freetown, Sierra Leone, he had no idea that criticizing the government’s handling of Ebola would mean 11 days in jail.

Read More ›

Wong Wing-yin, a reporter for Hong Kong's public broadcaster, RTHK, is escorted to safety during a pro-government protest on October 25, 2014, during which three journalists were assaulted. (Reuters/Damir Sagolj)

For clues to censorship in Hong Kong, look to Singapore, not Beijing

When journalists covering pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong on September 28, 2014, got word that protesters were having problems with cell phone service, it appeared to be a familiar response from governments across the world to dissent.

Read More ›

Graffiti attributed to the street artist Banksy is seen near the offices of Britain's eavesdropping agency, Government Communications Headquarters, or GCHQ, in Cheltenham, England, on April 16, 2014. (Reuters/Eddie Keogh)

Surveillance forces journalists to think and act like spies

Once upon a time, a journalist never gave up a confidential source. When someone comes forward, anonymously, to inform the public, it’s better to risk time incarcerated than give them up. This ethical responsibility was also a practical and professional necessity. If you promise anonymity, you’re obliged to deliver. If you can’t keep your word,…

Read More ›

Mario Costeja Gonzalez speaks on his mobile phone outside a court in Barakaldo, Spain, on June 25, 2013. As a result of a lawsuit he filed against Google, Internet companies can be made to remove irrelevant or excessive personal information from search engine results, Europe's top court ruled.  (Reuters/Vincent West)

Two continents, two courts, two approaches to privacy

At 3:20 a.m. on August 24, 2014, the strongest earthquake in a quarter-century rocked the San Francisco Bay Area, causing damage widely estimated at between $300 million and $1 billion.

Read More ›