Shazdeh Omari
Shazdeh Omari is CPJ's news editor. Former copy chief for The Village Voice, she has worked as a reporter and editor in the United States and Greece. Omari was born in Saudi Arabia and raised in Karachi, Pakistan, where she learned to read, speak, and write Urdu.
CPJ Insider: November 2018 edition
The fight for justice in Jamal Khashoggi’s murder It took the Saudi royal family more than two weeks after Jamal Khashoggi disappeared to admit that he had been killed in the country’s consulate in Istanbul. Saudi officials said the murder was a rogue act, but, according to The New York Times, several of the men…
CPJ Insider: October edition
CPJ, Reuters, Amal Clooney address press freedom violations at the U.N. CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon addressed a panel event, entitled “Press Behind Bars,” at the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 28. The event–which also featured human rights lawyer Amal Clooney and Stephen Adler, president of Reuters…
CPJ Insider: September 2018 edition
The Boston Globe receives threats after its call for defending a free press In August, The Boston Globe invited newspapers from all over the country to stand up for journalists and the media with editorials. Hundreds of news organizations participated in the initiative, for which CPJ provided a backgrounder on press freedom in the U.S.…
CPJ Insider: August edition
Four journalists, one media worker killed in shooting in Annapolis On June 28, a gunman shot five people to death in the newsroom of the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland. Police arrested Jarrod Ramos, an individual described as having a long-standing grudge against the paper, and charged him with five counts of first-degree murder. Days…
CPJ Insider: July 2018 edition
CPJ announces 2018 International Press Freedom Award winners In a 2014 interview with CPJ, Vietnamese blogger Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh said, “I have a right to write. … If they want to arrest me, they can.” Three years later, they did. Vietnamese authorities convicted Quynh–known best by her penname, “Mother Mushroom”–on charges of “propagandizing against…
CPJ Insider: June edition
CPJ calls on reporters to share stories of being stopped at U.S. border CPJ has issued a call to journalists to share any difficulties they have had while crossing the U.S. border. We partnered with Reporters Without Borders, or RSF, in this project and have created a page on our website where journalists can submit…
CPJ Insider: May 2018 edition
CPJ in Pakistan: ‘People don’t know where the lines are that they can’t cross’ In February, CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Steven Butler traveled to Pakistan with CPJ Multimedia Producer Mustafa Hameed to speak to journalists and press freedom advocates about the climate for media freedom in Pakistan. They traveled to Karachi, Islamabad, Peshawar, Lahore, and…
CPJ Highlights: March 2018 edition
CPJ’s global campaign to free the press CPJ believes all journalists should be able to report freely, without any fear of harassment or retaliation. But each day, all over the world, reporters, photographers, editors, and bloggers are imprisoned for their work. In December, CPJ published its annual prison census, which found that at least 262…
CPJ Highlights: February edition
CPJ leads first-ever press freedom mission to the U.S. In January, CPJ and IFEX led an international mission of global press freedom groups to the United States. Representatives of CPJ, IFEX, Article 19, International Press Institute, Reporters Without Borders, and Index on Censorship traveled to Texas and Missouri, where they spoke with journalists about the…