Germany / Europe & Central Asia

  
Can Dündar, the former editor-in-chief of Cumhuriyet newspaper pictured on April 7, 2017, now runs nonprofit online radio station 'Ozguruz' from exile in Germany. (AP/Markus Schreiber)

For Turkish journalists in Berlin exile, threats remain, but in different forms

For Can Dündar, sitting in the audience of a theater performance near Dortmund in Germany in May was an emotional moment. In an interview with CPJ, he recalled how during the premiere night, he watched the main actor on stage playing a journalist as he was imprisoned in Turkey, had his house searched, his books…

Read More ›

Former Austrian Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache is seen in Vienna, Austria, on May 18, 2019. Strache recently filed a criminal complaint against "all persons" involved in the dissemination of a video that led to his resignation. (AP/Michael Gruber)

Austrian politician Strache sues German newspapers over ‘Ibiza video’

Berlin, June 12, 2019 — German authorities should reject criminal complaints filed by former Austrian Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache against news outlets that published a video that led to his resignation, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Read More ›

The Bundestag is seen in Berlin, Germany, on December 12, 2018. A piece of draft legislation would make it easier for intelligence services to surveil journalists and their sources. (Reuters/Fabrizio Bensch)

German draft legislation would enable intelligence agencies to spy on journalists

Berlin, June 7, 2019 — The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on the German Ministry of the Interior to drop draft legislation that would make it easier for intelligence services to surveil journalists and their sources.

Read More ›

German freelancer Billy Six, pictured after his release from Syrian detention in 2013. Six is detained in Venezuela on charges including espionage. (AFP/Louai Beshara)

CPJ alarmed by detention of German freelance reporter in Venezuela

Miami, November 29, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today expressed concern over the detention in Venezuela of German freelance journalist Billy Six. Venezuelan counterintelligence agents detained Six in the northwestern state of Falcón on November 17, according to his parents and news reports.

Read More ›

Germany should use UN Security Council role to promote press freedom

CPJ calls on Chancellor Angela Merkel to use Germany’s position on the U.N. Security Council to prioritize press freedom and the safety of journalists. The country should extend its legacy of speaking up when journalists are under attack.

Read More ›

A mural at the Facebook office in Berlin. A new law in Germany requires Facebook and other large social media platforms to quickly delete posts reported as inappropriate. (Reuters/Stefanie Loos)

As German hate speech law sinks Titanic’s Twitter post, critics warn new powers go too far

The satirical magazine Titanic appears to have been an unlikely victim of Germany’s recently adopted online anti-hate speech law, NetzDG. “We were truly surprised,” the magazine’s editor-in-chief Tim Wolff told CPJ, as he explained how Twitter blocked the Titanic account for 48 hours after the magazine republished a post Twitter had deleted, in which Titanic…

Read More ›

An EU flag, pictured in January 2012. The European Parliament is due to vote this month on legislation around exports of surveillance software. (AP/Vadim Ghirda)

CPJ joins call for EU to stop surveillance software going to rights abusers

The Committee to Protect Journalists today joined a group of human rights groups in calling on the European Parliament to vote tomorrow in favor of legislation that could prevent surveillance equipment from going to rights-abusing governments.

Read More ›

A German legislator uses a mobile device during a session of the Bundestag in Berlin, March 1, 2013. (AP/Gero Breloer)

Proposed German legislation threatens broad internet censorship

The German cabinet on April 5 approved a “Draft Law to Improve Law Enforcement in Social Networks” (Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz), ostensibly aimed at combatting disinformation and hate speech, that raises concerns about restrictions on free expression and the privatization of censorship. The law would compel social media companies to remove content or risk fines as high as…

Read More ›

White House press secretary Sean Spicer talks to the media during the daily briefing. President Trump and his administration have accused critical outlets of being fake news. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Deciding who decides which news is fake

Authorities decry the proliferation of misinformation and propaganda on the internet, and technology companies are wrestling with various measures to combat fake news. But addressing the problem without infringing on the right to free expression and the free flow of information is extremely thorny.

Read More ›

CPJ asks German Chancellor Merkel to raise press freedom on Turkey visit

Ahead of her visit to Turkey, the Committee to Protect Journalists requests German Chancellor Angela Merkel to ask Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to free the dozens of journalists imprisoned in the country and to urge him to allow the more than 100 media outlets closed since failed July 2016 military coup to reopen and to operate without harassment.

Read More ›