Responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have shifted the long-term paradigm for press freedom and journalist safety. CPJ is monitoring global press freedom violations–including laws against ‘fake news,’ journalists’ arrests, and surveillance–and has issued physical and digital safety advice for members of the media working during the pandemic.
CPJ News Coverage
- Chinese journalist held for reporting on Wuhan COVID outbreak wishes he’d done more
- CPJ, rights groups call on Bangladesh to cease harassment of Rozina Islam in public letter
- Indian authorities prevent Pulitzer-winning Kashmiri journalist Sanna Irshad Mattoo from flying abroad
- Chinese reporter Zhang Weihan recounts police harassment, detention in Tangshan
- Hungarian government bypasses court order allowing journalists to report from public hospitals
- Opinion: The dilemma facing journalists covering the Beijing Olympics
- China finds new ways to intimidate foreign press, FCCC survey finds
- Digital and Physical Safety: Reporting during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2022
- India state assembly elections 2022: Journalist safety guide
- Journalists at the Beijing Winter Olympics may test China’s tolerance for critical coverage
CPJ Safety Advisory: in your language
More CPJ safety advice:
- Reporting during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2022
- Safety advice for working from home
- Arrest and detention
- Covering civil unrest, including U.S. protests against coronavirus lockdowns
- Protect yourself from online attacks
- Digital safety kit
- Editor’s checklist: Preparing for COVID-19 assignments
- More safety notes
Are you a journalist who needs help? Learn about CPJ’s Emergency Response
Coronavirus Q&A
- Freelancer Vladimir Sevrinovsky on covering COVID-19 in the North Caucasus: ‘The main misinformation I fight is from the state’
- EUobserver reporter Eszter Zalan on covering the EU amid coronavirus, disinformation, and economic crisis
- Journalists in Syria tell CPJ of fear of humanitarian catastrophe if COVID-19 spreads
- Getty photographer John Moore on how covering Ebola prepared journalists for COVID-19
- NY Times reporter Davey Alba on covering COVID-19 conspiracy theories, facing online harassment
- Journalists in Iraqi Kurdistan tell CPJ of obstruction and opportunities covering COVID-19
- First Draft’s Aimee Rinehart on fact-checking coronavirus misinformation
- Halifax Examiner’s Tim Bousquet on covering a mass shooting in a pandemic
- In Brazil, Rio’s community journalists face daily challenges informing favela residents about COVID-19
- Malaysian journalist faces six years in prison over COVID-19 Facebook posts
#FreeThePress
For journalists in jail, freedom is matter of life or death.
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Photo: Zmnako Ismael
External Resources
- Mental health tips and resources for journalists, International Journalists’ Network
- How journalists can work from home securely, Freedom of the Press Foundation
- Press freedom and government transparency during COVID-19, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
- Mental health considerations during COVID-19 outbreak, World Health Organization
- Coronavirus: Resources for reporters, First Draft
- Mental health experts offer counsel on staying calm during coronavirus pandemic, Joel Achenbach, The Washington Post
- Media ethics, safety and mental health: reporting in the time of Covid-19, Ethical Journalism Network
- Coronavirus Response Toolkit, National Association of Broadcasters
- How journalists can fight stress from covering the coronavirus, Al Tompkins and Sidney Tompkins, Poynter
- Covering the Coronavirus Pandemic, Student Press Law Center
- Resources for Freelancers Navigating COVID-19, Association of Independents in Radio