CPJ joins call to strengthen EU European Media Freedom Act
The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 16 other press and free expression organizations in a letter to European commissioners on May 9, or Europe Day, calling on them to ensure that the proposed European Media Freedom Act defends press freedom and independence. The letter calls for the European Commission to expand the EMFA beyond basic…
How China is stepping up harassment of foreign correspondents
When international journalists rushed to Zhengzhou city in Henan province to cover a deadly flood in July 2021, they were confronted by angry bystanders who accused them of “spreading rumors” and “smearing China.” Many also received harassing messages on social media and intimidating calls, according to the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China. This hostility spread after the Henan Communist Youth…
‘Red-tagging’ of journalists looms over Philippine elections
As Philippine presidential candidates wind up their campaigns before the May 9 election, journalists in the country are demanding that whoever succeeds President Rodrigo Duterte put an end to “red tagging” – the labeling of individuals as rebels or supporters of the communist insurgency – that helped put their colleague Frenchiemae Cumpio behind bars. Cumpio, the 23-year-old executive director…
Botswana journalists remain ‘vigilant’ under new surveillance law
When Botswana’s government sought to pass a new law early this year that would have allowed for warrantless surveillance, local opposition came swift. Authorities eventually introduced judicial oversight, which local media groups considered a success, but the Botswana police’s history of searching journalists’ devices and accessing their telecom information remains cause for concern. “We do…
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…
CPJ joins call for Indian government to end attacks on the press
On World Press Freedom Day, Tuesday, May 3, the Committee to Protect Journalists joined nine other press freedom and human rights organizations in a statement calling on the government of India, led by the Hindu right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party, to address the rapidly deteriorating state of press freedom throughout the country and in Indian-administered Jammu…
Imprisoned Egyptian journalist Alaa Abdelfattah’s sister Sanaa Seif: ‘Since the book is out, his voice is out too’
When Egyptian journalist Alaa Abdelfattah was re-arrested in September 2019 for sharing a tweet with allegations of wrongdoing by a state security officer, he ended up back in prison under the same watchful gaze of authorities who had warned him a few months prior to stop reporting, or he would “regret it.” However, Abdelfattah did…
‘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…
As World Cup nears, Qatar and FIFA face fresh scrutiny on press freedom commitments
Exactly one year before the scheduled start of the 2022 football World Cup in Qatar, plainclothes officers from the Gulf state’s Criminal Investigations Department arrested Halvor Ekeland and Lokman Ghorbani, a sports reporter and cameraman respectively for Norwegian state broadcaster NRK, as they were leaving their hotel in the capital of Doha. The NRK journalists…
Council of Europe publishes annual report on press freedom
On April 27, 2022, the Council of Europe Platform for the Protection of Journalism and the Safety of Journalists, a body comprising 15 international media and free expression groups including the Committee to Protect Journalists, published its annual report on the status of press freedom in Europe. The report, “Defending Press Freedom in Times of…