GWOT?? Old term means new dollars for good cause
Washington Post columnist Al Kamen had a generous thought for CPJ today. Kamen writes that an Office of Management and Budget e-mail sent to the Pentagon recently declared: “This Administration prefers to avoid using the term ‘Long War’ or ‘Global War on Terror’ [GWOT]. Please use ‘Overseas Contingency Operation.’ “
Tunisian president calls criticism “unbecoming”
During his address to the nation on the anniversary of Tunisia’s independence on March 20, President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali did not hesitate to reject critical journalism and the right of journalists to cover corruption or mistakes by the government. As customary, local groups concerned with press freedom, including the Tunisian Observatory for Press Freedom…
Can Sierra Leone bring justice in fatal beating of editor?
The case had all the hallmarks of a sordid thriller. There was “a rogue politician, a journalist getting killed, a staunchly incurious police, and the media in frenzy,” veteran journalist Lansana Gberie wrote in the New African, describing the fatal 2005 beating of editor Harry Yansaneh in Sierra Leone.
Imprisoned Cuban journalist is granted 24 hours at home
March 20 marked the sixth anniversary of the three-day 2003 crackdown on the independent Cuban press. That day, Oleivys García Echemendía was scheduled to visit her husband, imprisoned Cuban journalist Pablo Pacheco Ávila, at 1 p.m. at the Morón prison in the central province of Ciego de Ávila.
Seeking justice for Marlene Garcia-Esperat
Today CPJ launched its 2009 Global Impunity Index in Manila to mark the fourth anniversary of the murder of Marlene Garcia-Esperat, left, a Philippine columnist who reported on corruption in the government’s agriculture department. Garcia-Esperat was gunned down in her home in front of her family in a case that has become emblematic of the…
In Russia, criminal ties to government fuel impunity
In Russia, even official statistics present a depressing picture: Contract-style murders of journalists, more often than not, remain unsolved. Even the rare investigations that result in trials do not answer the main question: Who ordered the killing?
Going beyond national borders to combat impunity
Combating impunity has been a long and difficult process, full of obstacles and problems. At the national level it has not been easy, so much of our work is carried out using the supranational tools that we helped develop. They began taking shape through international intergovernmental declarations, in conclusions reached by international legislative and judicial…
Czech leader supports CPJ effort to free Cubans
The Czech prime minister has expressed support for CPJ’s efforts to gain the release of imprisoned Cuban jouirnalists. We sent Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek, who is also president of the Council of the European Union, a copy of a March 17 letter to an EU envoy. In the letter, we asked envoy Louis Michel to seek the…
Black Spring of 2003: A former Cuban prisoner speaks
March 18, 19, and 20 will mark the sixth anniversary of the detention of 75 peaceful journalists and librarians, as well as human rights activists, convicted weeks later to up to 28 years in jail during summary trials. Fifty-four of these innocent people, who demanded a democratic society and respect for human rights, remain imprisoned…