Journalists sentenced in alleged Ergenekon plot
Istanbul, August 7, 2013–A Turkish appellate court should overturn the convictions of numerous journalists who have been convicted in connection with Ergenekon, a broad anti-government conspiracy, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The journalists were convicted on flawed penal and anti-terror laws that conflate news coverage and commentary with terrorism.
Editor jailed on retaliatory charges in Azerbaijan
New York, August 5, 2013–Authorities in Azerbaijan should stop their practice of jailing journalists in retaliation for their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. A district court in Baku on Friday ordered the imprisonment of Sardar Alibeili, chief editor of the independent newspaper P.S. Nota, for two months pending investigation of a criminal…
Groups call for EU action against mass surveillance
Recent revelations of American and British mass surveillance of digital communications have triggered an intense mobilization of European free speech and civil liberties organizations, which have launched an online petition calling on leaders of the European Union to halt the practice. The #dontspyonme campaign was presented by Index on Censorship, an independent, British, free speech…
Another reporter attacked, hospitalized in eastern Ukraine
New York, July 29, 2013–Federal authorities in Ukraine should take over the investigation into today’s brutal attack on a TV journalist who had regularly reported on allegations of corruption in the regional police force, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Sergei Ostapenko, a reporter for Irta, suffered a broken jaw and other injuries in…
Several journalists fired, forced to resign in Turkey
New York, July 25, 2013–The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by reports that numerous Turkish journalists, including the leading columnist Yavuz Baydar, have been fired or forced to resign from news outlets in apparent retaliation for their independent coverage of anti-government demonstrations that swept the country.
After Security Council, what next for journalist safety?
Speaking at a U.N. Security Council discussion about the protection of journalists, Associated Press Executive Editor and CPJ Vice Chair Kathleen Carroll remembered the 31 AP journalists who have died reporting the news and whose names grace the Wall of Honor that visitors pass as they enter the agency’s New York headquarters. Most were killed…
Mediapart complies with ruling, but vows to fight on
At midnight on Monday, the French news website Mediapart complied with the Versailles court of appeal which last week ordered the site to withdraw articles referring to the Bettencourt recordings–the secret tapings of Liliane Bettencourt, the richest woman in France, by her butler. Mediapart as well as the newsweekly Le Point had been sued for…
In Ukraine, journalist hospitalized after brutal assault
New York, July 22, 2013–Two assailants on Sunday severely beat Oleg Bogdanov, a Ukrainian journalist who has been subjected to an escalating series of attacks in recent months that have included threats and an arson attack on his car, according to news reports.
Surveillance detection for journalists in the field
Much has been made recently about the digital surveillance of journalists–and rightly so–but physical surveillance remains a key tactic of security forces, law enforcement, and private entities. These operatives are monitoring journalists, gathering intelligence on them, and potentially obstructing journalists’ work or putting them at risk.