Courtney C. Radsch/CPJ Advocacy Director

Courtney C. Radsch, PhD, is the advocacy director at the Committee to Protect Journalists and the author of Cyberactivism and Citizen Journalism in Egypt: Digital Dissidence and Political Change. As a veteran journalist, researcher, and free expression advocate she writes and speaks frequently about the intersection of media, technology, and human rights. Follow her on Twitter @courtneyr.

People hold signs saying 'Impunity kills' during a 2013 memorial in Kiev for murdered Ukrainian journalist Georgy Gongadze. The US decision to withdraw from UNESCO will make the world less safe for journalists. (AFP/Sergei Supinsky)

US withdrawal from UNESCO is blow for press freedom

The U.S. government’s decision to withdraw from the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which has a mandate to promote “the free flow of ideas by word and image [and] to foster free, independent, and pluralistic media in print, broadcast and online,” will make the world less safe for journalists, a joint statement…

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Greg Gianforte. right, with Paul Ryan, before his swearing in ceremony in June. CPJ met with the congressman to discuss press freedom issues on October 5. (Pete Marovich/Getty Images/AFP)

CPJ meeting with Gianforte is disappointingly brief

When Montana Congressman Greg Gianforte agreed to donate $50,000 to CPJ as part of his settlement with Guardian journalist Ben Jacobs, whom he body slammed during a congressional race in May, I reached out to set up a meeting to see if Gianforte was serious about his hope that “some good can come of [the]…

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A demo booth at Facebook's annual developer conference in California in April. The social networking platform is launching safety tips for journalists. (AP/Noah Berger)

CPJ partners with Facebook on Journalist Safety Initiative

Facebook has become integral to the work of journalists around the world. Yet journalists’ use of the largest social network can put them and their sources at risk if they don’t know how to keep safe on the platform.

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A German legislator uses a mobile device during a session of the Bundestag in Berlin, March 1, 2013. (AP/Gero Breloer)

Proposed German legislation threatens broad internet censorship

The German cabinet on April 5 approved a “Draft Law to Improve Law Enforcement in Social Networks” (Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz), ostensibly aimed at combatting disinformation and hate speech, that raises concerns about restrictions on free expression and the privatization of censorship. The law would compel social media companies to remove content or risk fines as high as…

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White House press secretary Sean Spicer talks to the media during the daily briefing. President Trump and his administration have accused critical outlets of being fake news. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Deciding who decides which news is fake

Authorities decry the proliferation of misinformation and propaganda on the internet, and technology companies are wrestling with various measures to combat fake news. But addressing the problem without infringing on the right to free expression and the free flow of information is extremely thorny.

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Syrians protest the killing and torture of women by President Assad's regime in 2011. The blogger Tal al-Mallohi remains in jail in Syria despite a court ordering her release. (AP/Mohammad Hannon)

On International Women’s Day, CPJ recognizes nine female journalists jailed for their work

Coverage of protests and riots. Revelations of official corruption and graft. Major natural disasters. Investigations into deplorable living conditions. These are some of the important issues journalists cover in their role as the Fourth Estate.

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CPJ raises concerns over UN agenda on preventing violent extremism

Preventing and countering violent extremism has been a major issue on the international agenda in the past year, prompting the United Nations Secretary-General to launch a Plan of Action to Prevent Violent Extremism in December and the UN Human Rights Council to adopt a resolution last fall.

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Satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo releases an anniversary edition to mark the deadly attack on its staff last January. Government responses to the killings have threatened press freedom. (Jacques Demarthon/AFP)

One year after Charlie Hebdo, will press freedom become victim of war on terror?

Who would have thought that France would top the list of most deadly countries for the press in 2015, second only to Syria? The massacre of eight cartoonists and journalists by Islamic militants at the Paris office of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo last January was one of the deadliest attacks against the press since…

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UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and President Barack Obama at a summit on countering violent extremism in September. Proposed measures rick curtailing press freedom. (AFP/Jewel Samad)

Privatizing censorship in fight against extremism is risk to press freedom

“We’re stepping up our efforts to discredit ISIL’s propaganda, especially online,” President Barack Obama told delegates at the Leaders’ Summit on Countering Violent Extremism last month. The social media counter-offensive comes amid U.N. reports of a 70 percent increase in what it terms “foreign terrorist fighters”–citizens of U.N. member states who have left to join…

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CPJ

On World Press Freedom Day and journalists’ safety

Last week, I met a Cameroonian journalist who worked in the Congo until he fled following a series of threats and an attack on his home by armed men who assaulted his sister. Elie Smith, a TV host who documented alleged abuses by police and was outspoken in his criticism of the government, said he…

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