Journalists face growing hostility as Ethiopia’s civil war persists
Ethiopia’s 21-month-old civil war is accelerating the deterioration of press freedom in the Horn of Africa nation. The conflict between the federal government and the rebel forces led by the Tigray Peoples’ Liberation Front (TPLF) has prompted a media crackdown that extinguished the glimmer of hope sparked by the initial reforms of Prime Minister Abiy…
CPJ joins call urging Malta to implement recommendations of public inquiry report on Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder
The Committee to Protect Journalists joined eight other press freedom organizations in a joint statement on Friday, July 29, calling on the Maltese government to implement the recommendations put forward in the public inquiry report on investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder and ensure the effective protection of journalists. On the one-year anniversary of the…
‘Covering a lawless land’: Brazilian journalists on reporting in the Amazon after Dom Phillips’ and Bruno Pereira’s killings
The June murders of British journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous issues expert Bruno Pereira, whom police suspect were killed by people with ties to illegal fishing in the Amazon, amounted to a “nightmare” come true, Brazilian journalist Daniel Camargos, who often covers the Amazon, told CPJ in a phone interview. Camargos, an investigative reporter for news website Repórter Brasil,…
Six Kenyan journalists and press freedom advocates on their fears ahead of general elections
Kenyans are preparing to head to the polls August 9 for a national election that is predicted to be tightly contested. Deputy President William Ruto is vying for the presidency against main contender Raila Odinga, a veteran opposition figure who nonetheless has the backing of the current President Uhuru Kenyatta. In 2017, Kenyan journalists were harassed and detained while covering…
CPJ joins call for Maldives to repeal or amend provision of Evidence Act
On July 25, 2022, the Committee to Protect Journalists joined nine press freedom, freedom of expression, and human rights groups in a statement calling on the Maldives government to repeal or amend a provision of the recently ratified Evidence Act, which allows courts to compel journalists and media organizations to reveal their sources on the…
CPJ joins UN complaint on behalf of jailed Eritrean journalists
On July 21, 2022, the Committee to Protect Journalists joined the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights in partnership with seven other rights organizations and lawyers in a complaint filed to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention calling for accountability in the cases of Dawit Isaak and fifteen other journalists held behind bars…
‘Permanent fear’: Togolese journalists on their lives 1 year after Pegasus Project revelations
One year after news broke about a list of over 50,000 phone numbers allegedly selected for surveillance with Pegasus spyware, journalists around the world continue to live and work with the fear that their phones can be used to track their conversations and penetrate all the personal and professional data stored on their devices. The…
CPJ joins call urging Egyptian government to respect human rights ahead of COP27
In a joint open letter on July 14, 2022, the Committee to Protect Journalists joined 20 other civil society groups in urging German officials meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to press the Egyptian leader to reopen civic space in the country. The letter is addressed to German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and State Secretary…
CPJ joins statement welcoming Dutch government’s proposed policy changes on journalist safety
On July 1, 2022, the Committee to Protect Journalists joined seven other press freedom organizations in a joint statement welcoming a letter by the Dutch government to Parliament proposing a new policy approach on media freedom and journalist safety. That June 29 letter took into consideration reports and recommendations by domestic and international press and…
Frontline diary: A day in the life of a Ukraine war correspondent
Ruslan Smieshchuk, a reporter for privately owned Ukrainian TV channel Inter, had long dreamed of being a war correspondent when he covered his first conflict, the 2008 Russia-Georgia war, for local Odessa TV channel ATV. Now he hopes that the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war will be his last battlefield assignment. “War is a lot of pain and grief,” he told CPJ. The 38-year-old…