‘What’s two-factor?’ How journalists can protect themselves from Twitter hacks
When The Associated Press’s verified @AP account was hacked three years ago, CPJ’s senior security adviser Frank Smyth and I noted that for individuals faced with that situation, the best course of action is to request a password reset, tweet at Twitter staff, and pray. The best advice is still to not get hacked in…
CPJ joins call for Egypt to end its persecution of journalists, civil society leaders
The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 14 other organizations in calling on Egyptian authorities today to halt the persecution of journalists, press freedom advocates, and civil society leaders. Restrictive measures have included travel bans, asset freezes, and the re-opening of a five-year-old investigation into the foreign funding of human rights organizations.
Mission Journal: Rise in journalist arrests tarnishes Jordan’s image as reformist
The phone call came just as our conversation about the escalating crackdown on Jordanian media hit its stride. Lina Ejeilat, the co-founder of the news website 7iber (pronounced hebber), apologized and said she had to take the call. It was 7iber’s lawyer and it was important. For years the website had fought against a requirement…
Closure of news site underscores Malaysia’s press freedom crisis amid 1MDB scandal
On March 14, The Malaysian Insider abruptly closed its editorial operations less than a month after the state media regulator, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, blocked local access to its news site.
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of March 20
Istanbul court rules trial for journalists facing life sentences to be closed to public The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned an Istanbul court’s decision today to bar the public from the trial of Can Dündar and Erdem Gül, journalists for the daily newspaper Cumhuriyet. Representatives from CPJ and other free-speech groups attended the first…
A missed opportunity at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon
On March 8, the Appeals Panel of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon reversed the September 18 conviction of Karma Khayat, a journalist who had been ordered to pay a €10,000 (USD$11,064) fine because her channel broadcast interviews with confidential witnesses.
Gado blames government pressure as cartoonist’s contract at Kenya’s Nation ends
For 23 years Godfrey Mwampembwa has been a prominent and quick-witted observer of the political scene in East Africa. But all that changed last month when the cartoonist, known as Gado, was told his contract at Kenya’s biggest newspapers, the Nation, would not be renewed.
As US-Cuba relations thaw, what’s next for the island’s independent press?
“Our hope is that President Obama will meet journalists working for the alternative media, not just to cover his visit, but to start a dialogue,” said Elaine Díaz Rodríguez, director of Periodismo de Barrio (Neighborhood Journalism) a website focusing on climate change and the impact of natural disasters on local communities. Díaz, who last year…
CPJ joins call to renew Iran special rapporteur mandate
The Committee to Protect Journalists has joined 34 other organizations in calling on the U.N. Human Rights Council to vote in favor of renewing the mandate of the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The vote is scheduled to take place during the 31st session of the…
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of March 13
Prosecutors preparing charges against media owner, pro-government newspaper says Turkish prosecutors are preparing a case against media owner Aydın Doğan and his daughter, Hanzade Doğan Boyner, claiming they ran a fuel-smuggling ring, the pro-government daily newspaper Akşam said in a front-page story yesterday. Akşam said prosecutors were seeking a 23-year sentence against the businessman, whose…