Communications

On Monday the UN and Organization of American States released a joint report naming Mexico as the 5th most dangerous place in the world for journalists with over 70 deaths since 2000.  CPJ ranks Mexico 8th in the Impunity Index and 9th in total journalist deaths.  So far in 2011 there have been 8 journalists murdered in the…

The CPJ remembers Cuban human rights advocate Laura Pollán Toledo who died in Havana on Friday.  Founding the Ladies in White after the arrest of her husband, journalist Hector Maseda Gutiérrez during the Cuban government’s 2003 Black Spring crackdown on the press and dissent, Pollán worked endlessly for justice.  Earlier this year she was rewarded…

In May 2007 the CPJ expressed outrage over the arrest of four student editors, including Puyan Mahmudian, in the run up to student elections at the Amirkabir University of Technology in Tehran.  This article from CNN.com describes how despite spending months in prison and confessing to charges against him, Mahmudian and hundreds of others are blacklisted…

At least 26 civilians, mostly Coptic Christians, were killed in clashes with the military last week in what has become the worst violence seen in Egypt since the uprising earlier this year.  The Associated Press reiterates the CPJ’s call on Egyptian authorities to investigate the death of Coptic broadcaster Wael Mikhael, who was killed after…

CPJ’s East Africa Consultant Tom Rhodes and Africa Advocacy Coordinator Mohamed Keita are featured in an article from The Bureau of Investigative Journalism highlighting Ethiopia’s draconian anti-terror laws and how they are used to muzzle journalists. Click here for the full story.

October 7 marks the fifth anniversary of Anna Politkovskaya being gunned down in broad daylight in the elevator of her Moscow apartment building.  CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova talks with Reuters about the ongoing investigation into the murder, the state of press freedom under Vladimir Putin’s leadership and what it means…

Reuters covered the CPJ’s call for the conviction of Turkmen Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty correspondent Dovletmurad Yazguliyev to be overturned.  The article quotes CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova describing the conviction as “an attempt to silence an independent reporter.” Click here for the full story.

After reporting on fraudulent https certificates presumably being used by the Iranian government to spy on internet users, CPJ’s Danny O’Brien explains the impact of this security breach on journalists and activists in a radio interview with Public Radio International’s The World. Click here for the full story.

CPJ’s Carlos Lauria, senior program coordinator for the Americas, took Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa to task on his dismal record on maintaining a free press at the Columbia University on Friday, September 23.  When Lauria charged Correa with using the courts to silence and imprison critics he lashed out, claiming Lauria was “lying and a…

As the world marks the tenth anniversary of the terror attacks of September 11th, CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon writes a special opinion column for CNN.com discussing its impact on press freedom both in the U.S., and worldwide. The advent of a global ‘war on terror’ and sweeping anti-terror legislation has steadily eroded press freedom, leading…