Americas
2013
Eating a cable: Internet access still elusive in Cuba
There is a popular expression in Cuba that is synonymous with difficulty and crisis. When you want to indicate that someone is doing badly economically, it is sufficient to say that he is “eating a cable.” Street humor has identified the act of chewing and swallowing a bundle of wires with scarcity and material want.…
Drawing lessons from Chinese attacks on US media
Not every media company is as tempting a target for hackers as The New York Times, The Washington Post, or The Wall Street Journal. Not every company can afford high-priced computer security consultants, either. Is there anything that everyday reporters and their editors can learn about protecting themselves, based on the revelatory details the Times…
In Correa’s Ecuador, a bulletin on breakfast is routine
On September 11, 2012, the Ecuadoran government interrupted a morning newscast on the Teleamazonas TV station for an official bulletin. What could be so urgent? A coup d’etat? An earthquake? A cholera outbreak? It turned out the government sought to clarify what President Rafael Correa had for breakfast.
NYT reports Chinese hacking: one battle in large war
The New York Times reported Thursday that, after four months, it has expelled what it believes to be China-based hackers from its computer system and has, so far, kept them from breaking back in. The paper said a group had been “infiltrating its computer systems and getting passwords for its reporters and other employees.” The…
Repression deepens as Correa heads to new term
One result of President Rafael Correa’s high-profile campaign to demonize the country’s private media can be seen on the desk of José Velásquez, news manager at Teleamazonas, a private Quito television station often critical of the government. Among the documents piled high on his desk are lawsuits, which used to be a rare thing. Encouraged by…
Preparation helps freelancers survive, thrive
When the story is so important but the risks are so high, journalists must keep safety at the forefront of their thinking. That’s especially true for freelancers who often do not have the support of a large news organization. Preparation, peer networking, and smart planning can help improve the odds of not only surviving hostile…
New term to settle Obama legacy on leaks, whistleblowers
As pundits debate how Barack Obama will tackle guns, climate change, immigration, and the debt ceiling in his newly inaugurated second term, press freedom advocates are left questioning how the U.S. president will handle another, no-less-controversial issue: the treatment of whistleblowers and officials who leak information to the media.
Audio slideshow: A look at missing journalist James Foley
James Foley, a U.S. freelance journalist, was abducted in Syria in November. His colleague and friend Nicole Tung, a freelance photographer, spoke to CPJ about her experience working and traveling with Foley. A petition appealing for Foley’s release can be signed here.
Yahoo HTTPS mail not a moment too soon, nor too late
I remember sitting with a Yahoo employee in 2009, talking about the lack of protective encryption on Yahoo’s Web mail accounts. Like many, the employee had been caught up in the news of how Iranians were using the Internet to document and protest the presidential elections in that country, and had grown worried about the…