Case
2020
Rio de Janeiro Military Police publish video criticizing, insulting journalist Rafael Soares
In the evening of December 8, 2020, the Military Police of Rio de Janeiro published a video on its website and official YouTube and Twitter accounts in response to an article that Rafael Soares, a security reporter for national newspapers O Globo and Extra, had published previously that day. Soares’ article concerned a Military Police…
Mexican journalists shot, beaten as police disperse protest in Cancún
In the evening of November 9, 2020, at least two reporters received gunshot wounds and at least two others were beaten, as state police dispersed a protest the reporters were covering in the city of Cancún, in Quintana Roo state in southern Mexico. The police used live ammunition to shoot in the air, according to…
Bangladesh prosecutors block bail of journalist Jamal Mir
On November 10, 2020, the Dhaka High Court granted the bail of Jamal Mir, a freelance journalist who had been detained since May, but on November 15, a chamber judge in the Bangladesh Supreme Court’s appellate division blocked that order, keeping the journalist in detention, according to court documents reviewed by CPJ and Rezaur Rehman…
Judge orders Colombian outlet Semana TV to remove content, orders investigation
On September 28, 2020, a Colombian judge ordered online broadcaster Semana TV to take down an episode of one of its news programs, and ordered an investigation into how two of the station’s journalists obtained confidential information aired in that episode, according to news reports. The court order, which was made public on October 6…
Brazilian journalist assaulted and threatened over political coverage
At about 2:30 p.m. on October 21, 2020, two men entered the home of journalist José Airton Alves Júnior in the town of Itarema, in Brazil’s northeast Ceará state, punched and kicked him several times, and threatened him, according to news reports and the journalist, who spoke to CPJ in a phone interview. Alves Júnior…
Canadian police block reporting on Indigenous land demonstrations
On September 2, 2020, police in Ontario criminally charged Indigenous journalist Karl Dockstader in relation to his reporting on a campaign to oppose a planned housing development in the province’s Haldimand County, he told CPJ by phone. Charges against Dockstader and at least two other Indigenous people who were documenting the campaign were pending in…
Geo News reporter Ali Imran Syed abducted for 22 hours in Pakistan
On the evening of October 23, 2020, in Karachi, Pakistan, Geo News reporter Ali Imran Syed disappeared while he walking from his home to a nearby bakery, and was not seen until he reappeared physically unharmed at his mother’s home 22 hours later, according to news reports. After he reappeared, the government formed a fact-finding…
In Israel, at least eight journalists attacked while reporting on COVID-19 restrictions in ultra-Orthodox areas
On October 4 and 7, 2020, at least eight Israeli journalists who were reporting on COVID-19 lockdown compliance in Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods of Mea Shearim and Kiryat Belz and in the cities of Bnei Brak and Beit Shemesh came under attack by residents, according to news reports and social media posts by the journalists…
Italian TV crew covering anti-lockdown demonstration attacked and chased in Naples
In the evening of October 23, 2020, a group of protesters attacked and chased Paolo Fratter, a reporter for Italian news channel Sky TG 24, and his camera operator, Fabio Giulianelli, while they were covering a demonstration against the COVID-19 lockdown in Naples, according to a report by their employer and Fratter, who communicated with…
Colombia to file criminal charges against journalist Diana Díaz for revealing censorship at public media network
The Colombian Attorney General’s office announced on October 19, 2020, that it will file criminal charges against Diana Díaz, a former public TV station manager, for leaking to the Bogotá-based Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP) a recording of a conversation in which her supervisor suggested canceling a program because its host had criticized a proposed…