Features & Analysis

2017

  
A man with a Turkish flag walks over the word "Adelet," or "Justice," at a July 9, 2017, rally in Istanbul organized by the country's largest opposition party to protest the arrest of lawmaker and former editor Enis Berberoğlu. (Reuters/Umit Bektas)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of July 9, 2017

Police detain two journalists Police in the southern Turkish province of Hatay detained Erdoğan Alayumat and Nuri Akman, two correspondents for the pro-Kurdish news website Dihaber last night as they worked, their employer reported today. Police detained them on a complaint that they were “suspicious,” according to the report. A third individual, İsa Nuri Demir,…

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Thousands of opposition supporters pass through Izmit, Turkey, on the 21st day of a 425-kilometer (265-mile) "march for justice" to protest the jailing of opposition member of parliament and former editor Enis Berberoğlu.

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of July 2, 2017

Turkish president tells German newspaper jailed correspondent is a terrorist Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in an interview published yesterday, told the German newspaper Die Zeit that Die Welt Turkey correspondent, Turkish-German dual national Deniz Yücel, is a terrorist because he interviewed a leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Turkey considers a terrorist…

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Congressman Greg Gianforte appears in court to face a charge of misdemeanor assault over an attack on Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs in Montana in June. (Reuters/Tommy Martino)

CPJ to use $50,000 Gianforte donated as part of body slam settlement to track other assaults on press

When the news came that Greg Gianforte was making a $50,000 donation to the Committee to Protect Journalists it was 10 p.m. on the East Coast, but 8:30 a.m. in Naypyidaw, Myanmar’s Disney-like capital city, where members of our CPJ team were meeting officials to discuss that country’s punitive press laws.

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Police disperse marchers who had tried to gather for an LGBTQI pride march in Istanbul, June 25, 2017. Police also briefly detained an AP reporter (not pictured here) at the march, according to reports. (Reuters/Murad Sezer)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of June 25, 2017

BBC reporter refused entry Police at Istanbul’s Atatürk Airport yesterday detained BBC reporter Jiyar Gol for five hours before putting him on a plane out of the country, the journalist wrote on Twitter. The journalist tweeted that he believes he was not allowed in the country because of his reporting for the BBC. [June 30,…

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A demo booth at Facebook's annual developer conference in California in April. The social networking platform is launching safety tips for journalists. (AP/Noah Berger)

CPJ partners with Facebook on Journalist Safety Initiative

Facebook has become integral to the work of journalists around the world. Yet journalists’ use of the largest social network can put them and their sources at risk if they don’t know how to keep safe on the platform.

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stands in the presidential palace in Ankara, June 15, 2017. (AP/Presidency Press Service)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of June 18, 2017

Prosecutor asks to reopen investigation into journalist for interview Public prosecutor Umut Tepe petitioned a Turkish court to allow him to reopen his investigation into jailed Cumhuriyet reporter Ahmet Şık on charges of producing propaganda for a terrorist organization, Cumhuriyet reported yesterday. Tepe had previously dropped charges against the journalist for publishing an interview with…

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An Egyptian uses his phone to record the aftermath of a deadly explosion outside a police headquarters in December 2013. Journalists who use smartphones and messaging apps in their reporting say they are wary of surveillance and trolling under Egypt's press crackdown continues. (AP/Ahmed Ashraf)

How surveillance, trolls, and fear of arrest affect Egypt’s journalists

As Egypt’s crackdown on the press extends to social media and other communication platforms, many journalists say phishing attempts, trolling, software to monitor social media posts, and a draft law that would require registration for social media users are making them think twice before covering sensitive issues.

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses graduating students at the Imam Hatip religious school in Istanbul, May 26, 2017. (Reuters/Murad Sezer)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of June 11, 2017

Twelve witnesses against journalist say testimony extracted under torture Twelve out of 13 witnesses prosecutors called yesterday to testify that Nedim Türfent, a former reporter for the shuttered, pro-Kurdish Dicle News Agency (DİHA), was a member of a terrorist organization recanted their written testimony, saying police extracted it under torture, the daily Evrensel reported. Police…

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The Qatar Airways office in Doha. Gulf countries imposed a ban on Qatari flights and many have announced penalties for those reporting critically on recent tensions with the country. (AFP/STR)

Amid Gulf tensions, press is used as a political pawn

Today Bahrain became the latest Gulf nation to put pressure on news outlets amid political tension, when its Interior Ministry announced that anyone publishing support or sympathy for Qatar faces up to five years in prison. The announcement came the day after the United Arab Emirates used the threat of prison to demarcate how journalists…

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Leyla Mustafayeva holds her husband's passport at a May 29 rally in Tbilisi to protest the detention of Afgan Mukhtarli, who was abducted and forcibly taken to Azerbaijan. (AP/Shakh Aivazov)

CPJ joins call for Georgia to investigate case of exiled journalist forcibly taken back to Azerbaijan

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 22 international rights organizations in calling on Georgia’s Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili to ensure that the case of Afgan Mukhtarli, an Azerbaijani journalist living in exile in Tbilisi who is now in custody in the country’s capital, Baku, is fully investigated. CPJ documented last month how Mukhtarli was abducted…

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2017