Europe & Central Asia

2019

  
People lay flowers and candles at a memorial during a vigil and protest on the first anniversary of the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia outside the Courts of Justice in Valletta, Malta, on October 16, 2018. On the second anniversary of her murder, CPJ joined a call to end impunity in her case. (Reuters/Darrin Zammit Lupi)

CPJ joins call to end impunity in killing of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia

Two years after the assassination of Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia and one year after CPJ joined five other organizations in an international press freedom mission to Malta, CPJ and nine other groups once again demanded an end to impunity for the heinous attack and renewed calls to ensure the independence of a public…

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A newsstand in Rome in May 2019. Over 20 journalists in Italy are provided with round-the-clock police protection because of threats from groups including the mafia. (Reuters/Guglielmo Mangiapane

‘I was the first to lose my freedom’: How police protection impacts Italy’s investigative reporters

Explaining the sudden presence of two grim-looking bodyguards in a way that wouldn’t scare her children was never going to be easy for Federica Angeli, a reporter for la Repubblica. So when Angeli returned home with police protection for the first time in July 2013, she tried to turn the situation into a game. “I…

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A court where journalists from the Zaman newspaper were tried is seen in Istanbul on July 6, 2018. CPJ joined 12 other groups in issuing a statement calling on U.N. member states to urge Turkey to improve its freedom of speech record. (AP/Lefteris Pitarakis)

CPJ joins call to UN rights council for end to press crackdown in Turkey

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 12 other press freedom and freedom of expression organizations calling on the member states of the U.N. Human Rights Council to urge Turkey to end its repressive policies against independent reporting and free speech.

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Marija Pejcinovic Buric is seen after being elected as Secretary General of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France, on June 26, 2019. CPJ and other organizations recently sent a letter to Pejcinovic Buric, urging her to prioritize press freedom issues. (AFP/Patrick Hertzog)

CPJ joins call for new Council of Europe head to prioritize press freedom

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 21 other press freedom and freedom of expression organizations in sending an open letter to Secretary General of the Council of Europe Marija Pejcinovic Buric yesterday, calling on her to prioritize press freedom and the safety of journalists among the council’s 47 member states.

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Former staffers of the Turkish daily newspaper Cumhuriyet--cartoonist Musa Kart (C), columnist Guray Oz (L), board member Onder Celik (L2), layers Mustafa Kemal Gungor (R2), and columnist Hakan Kara (R)--speak with journalists after their release near from Kandira prison, in Kandira, Turkey, on September 12, 2019. A joint mission to Turkey found that the press freedom situation remains highly restrictive, despite some room for very cautious optimism. (Stringer/Cumhuriyet Daily Newspaper/AFP)

Press freedom situation in Turkey remains highly restrictive, despite some room for very cautious optimism, joint mission finds

This week, the Committee to Protect Journalists joined an international press freedom mission to Turkey that met with journalists, civil society, diplomats, the judiciary, and government officials. The visiting delegation voiced concern about the continued crackdown on journalists in the country and the need for the authorities to protect a free press, address inconsistencies and…

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Police detain a man during a protest in Moscow, Russia, on August 10, 2019. CPJ on August 22 joined a call for Russian authorities to end the harassment of journalists covering the Moscow protests. (Evgeny Feldman/Meduza via AP)

CPJ joins call for Russian authorities to end harassment of journalists covering Moscow protests

The Committee to Protect Journalists today joined seven other press freedom organizations in calling on the Russian authorities to end their harassment of journalists covering opposition protests in Moscow. Protests have taken place on four consecutive Saturdays in July and August after the local electoral commission’s decision to ban several opposition politicians from participating in…

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Police officers detain an opposition supporter as journalists take pictures during a protest against presidential election results in Almaty, Kazakhstan, June 10, 2019. The blocking of news websites during the leadership transition suggests that recent moves to control the internet are about censorship, not security. (Reuters/Pavel Mikheyev)

Kazakhstan’s move to control internet prompts censorship, surveillance concerns

A state-controlled internet service provider in Kazakhstan is requiring at least some of its subscribers to submit to having their internet traffic intercepted when they use specific websites–including social media sites, email and messaging services, and Google News, according to research published this week by Censored Planet, a project at the University of Michigan.

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Can Dündar, the former editor-in-chief of Cumhuriyet newspaper pictured on April 7, 2017, now runs nonprofit online radio station 'Ozguruz' from exile in Germany. (AP/Markus Schreiber)

For Turkish journalists in Berlin exile, threats remain, but in different forms

For Can Dündar, sitting in the audience of a theater performance near Dortmund in Germany in May was an emotional moment. In an interview with CPJ, he recalled how during the premiere night, he watched the main actor on stage playing a journalist as he was imprisoned in Turkey, had his house searched, his books…

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Journalists photograph the Netherlands soccer team as it trains in Brazil in June 2014. A survey by the Dutch Association of Journalists found female journalists are harassed and threatened over their work. (AFP/Damien Meyer)

‘It should not be accepted as normal’: Female journalists on harassment, intimidation in the Netherlands

The Netherlands is generally considered to have a positive press freedom reputation, but when the independent Dutch Association of Journalists released the findings of its survey of over 350 female journalists in May, over half said they had been subjected to intimidation or violence in their work and around 70 percent said these threats were…

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Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama speaks to the media outside a polling station near Tirana on June 30. A press freedom mission raised several issues with Rama last month, including unresolved attacks on journalists and draconian laws. (Reuters/Florion Goga)

Albania’s journalists tread fine line when covering organized crime, politics

The intersection of organized crime, corruption and politics in Albania is impacting the country’s press. During a joint mission by a coalition of press freedom organizations to Tirana in June, CPJ Europe Correspondent Attila Mong spoke with journalists about challenges including threats, attacks, political interference, and legal harassment.

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2019