Protests in Catatumbo add to risk in Colombia
Reporting from Catatumbo, a region in northern Colombia dominated by guerrillas and drug traffickers, has always been challenging. But working conditions for journalists have seriously deteriorated amid nearly two months of anti-government protests pitting thousands of angry peasant farmers against soldiers and riot police.
Kashmir’s Internet suspension fits pattern of restrictions
Curbing the flow of information during heightened periods of tension has become routine business by authorities in the northern Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. Access to mobile Internet service was suspended Thursday after violent protests erupted in the state. Although the service was restored late that night, the episode is another example of the…
Surveillance detection for journalists in the field
Much has been made recently about the digital surveillance of journalists–and rightly so–but physical surveillance remains a key tactic of security forces, law enforcement, and private entities. These operatives are monitoring journalists, gathering intelligence on them, and potentially obstructing journalists’ work or putting them at risk.
For Afghan journalists, elections, not troops, are key
I’m in Kabul for several days, making the rounds of journalists’ organizations and media houses. My brief is to see what, if anything, can be done to protect journalists after the withdrawal of NATO troops during and after 2014. But “post-2014” has much different connotations for the Afghans with whom I’ve spoken or been in…
Doubts as Sri Lanka says Commonwealth meeting open
As Sri Lanka prepares to host the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Colombo in November, some journalists have wondered whether they will be able to access the summit given the island nation’s abysmal press freedom record.
French website Mediapart faces crippling judgment
Three years ago, revelations by the independent news website Mediapart on the “Bettencourt affair”– allegations of illegal funding of former President Nicolas Sarkozy’s conservative UMP party by the heiress of the L’Oréal fortune, Liliane Bettencourt–put the fledgling site on the map, helped it build a reputation as a dogged and fearless muckraker, and boosted its…
Anniversaries of Russian journalist murders pile up
Last week, I was preparing to write a column about the anniversary of Paul Klebnikov’s murder. The American editor of Forbes-Russia was murdered contract-style nine years ago in Moscow at the age of 41. He had investigated connections between Russian business and organized crime, as well as ethnic and political tensions in Chechnya. Despite numerous…