Brazilian journalist Patrícia Campos Mello sued President Bolsonaro’s son for moral damages – and won
In May of last year, Eduardo Bolsonaro, a Brazilian congressman and the son of President Jair Bolsonaro, made a series of searing accusations against journalist Patrícia Campos Mello on the YouTube channel of far-right media company Terça Livre. He claimed that Campos Mello, a reporter with Brazilian daily Folha de S.Paulo, had attempted to use sex to…
Three takeaways from the US intelligence report blaming Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman for Khashoggi’s murder
On Friday, the United States laid the blame for the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi squarely at the feet of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in a long-awaited report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The release of the report, which is just three pages long, signaled a change from the previous…
CPJ joins call for Nicaragua government to stop restricting press freedom
The Committee to Protect Journalists today joined three other human rights organizations in a joint statement commemorating Nicaragua’s national Day of the Journalist and calling on authorities to end the widespread harassment of members of the press, and ensure media outlets and press freedom organizations can work safely. In the statement, CPJ joined three regional…
How U.S. copyright law and fake Gmail accounts were used to censor a report on gambling in Kenya
On February 4, Emmanuel Dogbevi turned to Twitter with a plea for help. He tagged press freedom groups and colleagues in a series of tweets, lamenting how allegations that he violated U.S. copyright law had prompted his news website to be taken offline. Dogbevi told CPJ via phone that Ghana Business News, the Ghana-based website he edits,…
CPJ, Human Rights Watch call on Guatemala to improve press freedom, access to information
The Committee to Protect Journalists and Human Rights Watch today issued a joint statement calling on Guatemalan authorities to stop harassing the press, strengthen protections for journalists, and ensure the government response to the COVID-19 pandemic does not restrict press freedom or access to information. The statement notes that the administration of President Alejandro Giammattei,…
‘Not at the finish line’: Slovak editor Peter Bárdy on ending impunity for Ján Kuciak’s murder
Last month brought mixed news in the quest for justice for 27-year-old Slovak investigative journalist Ján Kuciak, who was murdered with his fiancée Martina Kušnírová in their home outside Bratislava on February 21, 2018. The alleged mastermind, businessman Marián Kočner, is behind bars for forgery; on January 12 an appeals court upheld a lower court ruling sentencing Kočner to…
Meet Mediazona, the punk rock-founded Russian news outlet whose editor was jailed for a tweet
Of the more than 100 Russian journalists who have been arrested or fined covering rallies in support of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Mediazona chief editor Sergey Smirnov has become a symbol of the absurd lengths to which Russian authorities are willing to go to quash coverage of the events. On January 20, Smirnov retweeted another person’s tweet saying…
Irrawaddy editor Aung Zaw speaks to fears of a post-coup media crackdown in Myanmar
On February 1, Myanmar military overthrew the country’s democratically elected government and imposed a year of emergency rule until new elections are held and democracy restored. News reports have shown the coup has been met with spirited and widespread anti-military street protests, reportage the now-ruling military has tried to blackout through heavy handed measures including…
Al-Jazeera’s Ghada Oueiss on hacking, harassment, and Jamal Khashoggi
In a mid-2020 Washington Post opinion piece, Lebanese Al-Jazeera broadcast journalist Ghada Oueiss described hackers stealing private photos and videos from her phone and posting them online. The leak resulted in a sharp escalation of online attacks, Oueiss told CPJ in a January 2021 call. Since the brutal murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi…
South African journalist Sam Sole on landmark court victory: “2008 surveillance was the tip of the iceberg”
South Africa’s highest court, the Constitutional Court, handed down a landmark judgment on February 4 that not only protects journalists and their sources from surveillance abuse, but also upheld a lower court’s ruling that the insidious practice of the bulk interception of ordinary citizens’ data and communication is illegal. The ruling, documented by CPJ, was…