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 Highlights: July edition
CPJ and Freedom of the Press Foundation launch the “U.S. Press Freedom Tracker” On August 2, CPJ, the Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF), and 22 partner organizations launched the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, a website that documents threats to press freedom in the United States. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is the first centralized…
Judy Woodruff
CPJ is honored to present its inaugural Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award to PBS journalist Judy Woodruff. Broadcast journalist Judy Woodruff is the managing editor of “PBS NewsHour,” a show she anchored since 2013 with her co-host, Gwen Ifill, the late veteran journalist and CPJ senior advisor. Woodruff has covered politics and other news for…
Afrah Nasser, Yemen
CPJ is honored to present its 2017 International Press Freedom Award to Afrah Nasser, a Yemeni reporter and blogger living in exile in Sweden. Afrah Nasser, an award-winning exiled Yemeni independent reporter and blogger, reports from Sweden on human rights violations, women’s issues, and press freedom in her home country. Nasser began contributing to the…
Pravit Rojanaphruk, Thailand
CPJ is honored to present its 2017 International Press Freedom Award to Thai journalist Pravit Rojanaphruk. Pravit Rojanaphruk is one of Thailand’s most prominent critical reporters and a long-time advocate for press freedom. He is currently a columnist and senior staff writer for Khaosod English (Fresh News), a website established in 2013 that publishes critical…
Patricia Mayorga, Mexico
CPJ is honored to present its 2017 International Press Freedom Award to Mexican journalist Patricia Mayorga. Patricia Mayorga is a correspondent for Proceso, a news magazine based in Mexico City. Her reporting includes stories on forced disappearances of indigenous people in Mexico, and alleged links between the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and organized crime.…
Ahmed Abba, Cameroon
CPJ is honored to present its 2017 International Press Freedom Award to Cameroonian journalist Ahmed Abba. Ahmed Abba, 38, a correspondent for Radio France Internationale’s (RFI) Hausa service, was arrested in July 2015 as he left a press briefing at the office of a local governor in Maroua, the capital of Cameroon’s far north region,…
Burton Benjamin Memorial Award
From 1991 to 2016, CPJ presented the Burton Benjamin Memorial Award to individuals who show extraordinary and sustained achievement in the cause of press freedom. The Burton Benjamin Award is named for Burton Benjamin, who was senior executive producer at CBS News and served briefly as chair of CPJ’s board of directors before his death…
Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award
In 2017, CPJ’s Burton Benjamin Memorial Award was renamed the Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award to honor the veteran journalist and former CPJ board member, who died in 2016. The award is presented annually to an individual who has shown extraordinary and sustained achievement in the cause of press freedom. Ifill was the award-winning moderator…
CPJ Highlights: June edition
CPJ will use Gianforte settlement funds to document press freedom violations in U.S. The $50,000 CPJ received as part of a settlement in June from Montana then Congressman-elect Greg Gianforte will be used to help underwrite a project we are working on in partnership with other organizations including the Freedom of the Press Foundation, based…
CPJ Highlights: May edition
Days after Mexican president pledges to combat impunity, local journalist killed On May 4, a CPJ delegation visited Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto as part of a mission to launch a special report, “No Excuse,” which calls on the government to do more to bring those who murder journalists to justice. During the 90-minute meeting,…