Americas

2019

  
El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele with U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 25, 2019. Journalists in El Salvador told CPJ that online harassment has intensified since Bukele came to power in June. (Reuters/Jonathan Ernst)

Salvadoran President Bukele’s anti-press rhetoric echoes Trump

Mariana Belloso, a Salvadoran journalist and radio presenter, was home after work with her family on June 30 when she was retweeted by the president, she told CPJ in October. Then the abuse began.

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A U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer waits for pedestrians entering the United States on April 9, 2018 at the San Ysidro port of entry in California. Warrantless searches of devices belonging to journalists and other travelers at the border violate the U.S. constitution, a Massachusetts district court judge ruled in November. (Getty Images/AFP/Mario Tama)

Q&A: Isma’il Kushkush and Sophia Cope on U.S. court ruling against warrantless border search

Journalists crossing U.S. borders face a particular set of challenges, as CPJ has reported extensively. The U.S. government claims sweeping authority to interrogate travelers and search electronic devices without a warrant under what is known as the “border search exception.” CPJ has called this a chilling prospect for reporters in transit—especially those working with confidential…

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Flowers and crosses bear the names of journalists and human rights defenders murdered in the first three months since President Andrés Manuel López Obrador took office, in Mexico City in February 2019. At least two of the journalists murdered for their work in 2019 were enrolled in a safety protection mechanism. (AP/Rebecca Blackwell)

When it comes to protecting journalists, Mexico’s safety mechanism comes up short

Gildo Garza sighs when he speaks of the institution that is supposed to protect him. “I feel disappointed, depressed, desperate, and alone,” he said. “I no longer have any hope in a system that was supposed to help me build up a new life or get my old life back.”

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A demonstrator dressed as a whistle protests outside of a London court holding a hearing on the U.S. extradition case of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in October 2019. (Reuters/Henry Nicholls)

For the sake of press freedom, Julian Assange must be defended

Nine years ago this month, the Committee to Protect Journalists took a stand on one of the most polarizing figures in journalism. We wrote President Barack Obama and his attorney general, Eric Holder, urging them not to prosecute Julian Assange.

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Freelance journalist Bryan Carmody, left, is seen with his attorney, Thomas Burke, at a panel event held by the Society of Professional Journalists in San Francisco on August 13, 2019. Police raided Carmody's home and office in May while investigating the leak of a report on the death of a San Francisco public defender. (AP/Juliet Williams)

Carmody case shows grave police overreach, say lawyers

Bryan Carmody, a breaking news stringer who frequently worked the police beat in San Francisco, woke on May 10 to the sound of a sledgehammer at the metal gate securing his front door. Law enforcement agents investigating the leak of internal police documents were attempting to discover his source, CPJ reported at the time.

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CPJ
Covers of CPJ's 'Attacks on the Press' books. Starting in 1987, the annual publication acted as a database of press freedom violations. (CPJ/Mustafa Hameed)

CPJ deepens database of attacks on the press

He couldn’t have known it at the time, but when a Moroccan court sentenced editor Mohammed al-Herd on August 4, 2003, to three years in prison, he was emblematic of a new trend, one that would accelerate and continue to the present day.

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The Thurgood Marshall United States Courthouse, which hears cases from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, stands in lower Manhattan, New York City. Journalists in the U.S. and Canada say threats of lawsuits can affect every level of the reporting process. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images/AFP)

Legal threats prompt journalists to take creative approaches to investigative stories

When BuzzFeed News reporters Jane Bradley and Katie J.M. Baker began investigating claims of sexual misconduct by self-help guru Tony Robbins in early 2018, they did what any journalist would do, and reached out to people who might know about the allegations.

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Bolivian journalist Amalia Pando is seen in her makeshift office; she was formerly a ubiquitous presence on Bolivian radio and TV. (CPJ/John Otis)

Forced out of jobs and sidelined, Bolivia’s independent journalists see their audience slipping away

Amalia Pando was once a ubiquitous presence on Bolivian radio and TV, hosting some of the country’s most popular news and political commentary programs. At age 66, she’s still at it, but her audience is a sliver of what it once was.

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Colombian journalist Daniel Coronell. (Mario Alzate)

CPJ joins statement of concern over safety of Colombian journalist Daniel Coronell

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined the Fundación para la Libertad de Prensa (FLIP), a Colombian press freedom organization, in issuing a statement on October 4 expressing concern for the safety of journalist Daniel Coronell.

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The Central Intelligence Agency building is seen in Langley, Virginia, on January 21, 2017. CPJ recently filed a brief requesting the U.S. intelligence community release documents relating to the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. (AP/Andrew Harnik)

CPJ asks DC District Court to force release of intelligence community Khashoggi files

The Committee to Protect Journalists filed a brief in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia yesterday asking the court to release documents regarding Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi’s murder, which the U.S. government claimed in court documents are exempt from Freedom of Information Act requests.

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2019