Press freedom groups call for Brazilian presidential candidates to ensure safety of journalists covering elections
The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 10 other civil society groups and press freedom organizations this week in a letter to all Brazilian presidential candidates, urging them, their political parties, and parties’ coalitions to commit to ensuring that journalists can report safely and freely during upcoming elections in Brazil. In the letter, the organizations highlighted…
‘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,…
Seeking ‘answers and accountability’: Reporters cover Uvalde shooting amid police obstruction
False narratives, threats of arrest, and a biker group blocking access. These are just a few of the challenges journalists have faced while covering the aftermath of the May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Threats to press freedom are hardly the main story in Uvalde, where police failed to stop the…
Colombia’s Indigenous ‘communicators’ face special challenges reporting for their communities
Mabel Quinto Salas is a reporter for Radio Pa’yumat, a station in the Northern Cauca region of Colombia. But she doesn’t identify as a journalist. Instead, she calls herself a “community communicator,” a category that is common among Colombia’s Indigenous communities. “Communication is seen as a tool for visibility, for denunciation of human rights violations, but also for…
CPJ joins call for Brazilian authorities, electoral candidates to respect press freedom
The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 10 Brazilian and international civil society groups and press freedom organizations in a statement marking World Press Freedom Day on May 3, 2022, calling for Brazilian authorities and candidates in upcoming elections to respect the role of a free press and ensure journalists can work safely. The statement notes…
‘A never-ending nightmare’: A son’s decade-long fight for justice for murdered Brazilian sports journalist Valério Luiz de Oliveira
On July 5, 2012, Valério Luiz de Oliveira Filho was at home waiting for his father to arrive for lunch when he received a phone call from his stepmother. “Go to the broadcaster,” she told him through tears, he said. “Your father has been shot.” His father, Valério Luiz de Oliveira, a well-known sports journalist…
How Venezuela’s government uses private internet providers to restrict access to the news
After seven years of painstakingly building up its audience, Crónica Uno, one of the only high-quality news websites that caters to poor and working-class Venezuelans, was recording up to 15,000 unique page views per day. But after private internet service providers (ISPs) teamed up with Venezuela’s authoritarian government in February to block Crónica Uno and…
Many journalists in exile have to leave the profession. This one saved a local Canadian newspaper
When reporters flee their home countries, many are forced to leave the profession after finding few opportunities in journalism and facing other pressures in exile. CPJ recently spoke with a Pakistani refugee reporter who not only stayed in journalism, but saved a local newspaper in his adopted country, Canada. In 2002, Mohsin Abbas was a…
CPJ joins call for US Congress to reauthorize Global Magnitsky Act
The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 57 other civil society groups in a letter on Wednesday, March 23, calling for the U.S. Congress to reauthorize and strengthen the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act. The 2016 law allows the U.S. to place targeted economic and visa sanctions on individuals and entities responsible for serious human…
CPJ calls on US Justice Department to stop compelling media outlets to register as foreign agents
On February 11, 2022, the Committee to Protect Journalists submitted comments to the United States Department of Justice concerning problems presented by labeling media organizations as “foreign agents” under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The comments were submitted to the Justice Department in response to a public request from the department for feedback on proposed…