Magnus Ag
Assistant Advocacy Director Magnus Ag is a New York-based human rights advocate and journalist. Prior to joining CPJ in 2010, Ag worked as head of section in the Danish Ministry for Science, Technology, and Innovation. He holds a bachelor's and a master's degree in political science from the University of Copenhagen. He speaks English, Danish, and Norwegian. Contact him here or follow him on Twitter @AgMagnus.
Umar Cheema, Pakistan
2011 CPJ International Press Freedom Awardee Umar Cheema, a reporter with Islamabad’s The News, was abducted in September 2010 by unknown assailants who stripped, beat, and photographed him in humiliating positions. Cheema’s unwillingness to stay silent about his abduction and the abuses he suffered has drawn wide attention to the nationwide issue of anti-press violence…
Dan Rather, United States
2011 CPJ Burton Benjamin Memorial Awardee Dan Rather Dan Rather’s distinguished career spans 60 years of probing journalism as a television correspondent and anchor covering stories around the world. During his 44 years with CBS News, he was anchor and managing editor of “The CBS Evening News” for a record 24 years and was a…
Honoring courage in defiance of censorship
New York, October 4, 2011–Four outstanding journalists who have endured and defied media repression in Bahrain, Belarus, Mexico, and Pakistan will be honored with the Committee to Protect Journalists’ 2011 International Press Freedom Awards, an annual recognition of courageous journalism. The awardees–Mansoor al-Jamri (Al-Wasat, Bahrain), Natalya Radina (Charter 97, Belarus), Javier Valdez Cárdenas (Ríodoce, Mexico),…
CPJ Impact
News from the Committee to Protect Journalists, September 2011 Journalist ID’d in WikiLeaks cable, flees Ethiopia U.S. diplomatic cables disclosed last month by WikiLeaks cited Ethiopian journalist Argaw Ashine by name and referred to his unnamed government source, forcing Ashine to flee the country after police interrogated him over the source’s identity. It is the…
CPJ Impact
News from the Committee to Protect Journalists, August 2011 Detention of a new suspect in the Politkovskaya murder In a significant development in the investigation into the murder of Novaya Gazeta journalist Anna Politkovskaya, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation–the agency tasked with solving Politkovskaya’s murder–announced on August 16 that it had detained retired…
CPJ Impact
News from the Committee to Protect Journalists, July 2011 Still struggling for a free Cuban press As Cuba implements economic reforms and prepares to introduce high-speed Internet, freedom of expression continues to be met with a policy of repression that stifles the free flow of information, according to a new report by CPJ. The report…
CPJ Impact
News from the Committee to Protect Journalists, June 2011 CPJ welcomes new leadershipSandra Mims Rowe, a distinguished editor with a record of journalistic and civic leadership, has been elected chairman of CPJ. Rowe succeeds Paul Steiger, president and editor-in-chief of ProPublica. Steiger served as CPJ chairman since 2005.”We are immensely grateful to Paul Steiger for his untiring…
In limbo – the journalists forced into exile
AFP and the Guardian were among the mayor news outlets that covered the release of CPJ’s 2011 Exile Report. The report, released on June 20, documents how nearly 70 journalists were forced into exile over the past 12 months, with more than half coming from Iran and Cuba.