Press freedom groups urge Russia to probe murders of journalists
On Sunday, which marked the first United Nations-backed International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists, CPJ joined a coalition of international press freedom and human rights groups in urging Russian investigators to serve justice for our murdered colleagues.
Taiwan journalists feel pressure as elections approach
Political tensions are rising in Taiwan ahead of local and municipal elections due at the end of November. The vote is expected to test the popularity of the ruling Kuomintang Party (KMT), which advocates greater integration with China and which earlier this year sparked protests when it tried to pass a new economic cooperation deal…
Russian actor condemned for wearing press insignia and firing weapons
Russian actor Mikhail Porechenkov has joined basketball star Dennis Rodman, who declared North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un his best friend, and Jennifer Lopez who sang “Happy Birthday Mr. President” to the authoritarian leader of Turkmenistan, on the list of celebrities who have made human rights faux pas.
In Hungary, an independent website defies censorship and pressure
A delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists, led by board member Kati Marton, traveled to Hungary in October on CPJ’s first fact-finding and advocacy mission to an EU member state. We went there in response to concerning reports of deteriorating conditions for the press, and met dozens of journalists, media lawyers, managers, rights defenders,…
Mission Journal: Creeping authoritarianism in Hungary
On the Buda side of the River Danube stands the glass and steel headquarters of the thriving German-owned entertainment channel RTL. On the Pest side of the Hungarian capital, tucked in a corner of a converted department store, lies the cramped office of struggling online news outlet Atlatszo.
A message from a scared Egyptian journalist
Tamer Abuarab’s article today under the title “A message from a scared person” offers strong insight into why we at CPJ decided to produce our upcoming documentary film, “Under Threat,” and make an appeal for journalists to speak out with the hashtag #EgyptLastWord.
Mission Journal: In Zambia, Sata never fulfilled promise of greater transparency
“We’ll see for ourselves on Friday,” was a refrain on the lips of most journalists I met in Lusaka in mid-September, as they speculated on the health of President Michael Sata ahead of their country’s opening of parliament, where the leader was due to speak.
For journalists coming into US, policies border on the absurd
I was only supposed to be in Miami for the briefest of layovers. I was en route to San Francisco from São Paulo in Brazil, where I had participated in the NETMundial Conference on Internet governance along with hundreds of members of civil society, technology executives, journalists, and government officials. It was going to be…
BBC’s Rwanda documentary leads to illogical, illegal suspension
When the BBC released in early October its televised documentary “Rwanda’s Untold Story,” which questioned official accounts of the 1994 genocide, a massive outcry inside and outside Rwanda’s borders ensued. Locals and foreigners alike protested the documentary’s findings, parliamentarians demanded a ban and legal action, and authorities summarily suspended BBC’s vernacular Kinyarwanda news service, the…
Don’t let al-Sisi’s government have Egypt’s last word
“I want to send a message to the world; there is no need for defending honorable Egyptian journalists.” That’s what Egyptian Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb said on World Press Freedom Day this year, speaking at Al-Ahram state newspaper. The same day, Al-Jazeera English Bureau Chief Mohamed Fahmy was roaring in an Egyptian court: “I want…