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…
‘When you stop writing, they win’: Exiled after attacks, Lebanese journalist Mariam Seif Eddine is still reporting
When a teenager’s burned body was discovered in Mariam Seif Eddine’s neighborhood in Beirut’s southern suburb in September 2020, the journalist knew she had to report the story, even if it meant crossing Hezbollah. The Shia political party and militant group likes to keep tight control on information coming out of its strongholds, she told CPJ. “Hezbollah…
Iraqi Kurdish journalist Omed Baroshky: Press freedom ‘an illusion’ in the region
Freelance journalist Omed Baroshky spent 18 months in jail over social media posts that were critical of the authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan. One of four Iraqi Kurdish reporters listed in CPJ’s 2021 prison census, his incarceration marked yet another low point for a region that has seen a sharp deterioration in the environment for the…
CPJ joins call for Greek authorities to investigate surveillance of journalist Thanasis Koukakis
The Committee to Protect Journalists joined six other international press freedom organizations in an open letter on April 22, 2022, calling on Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and other government officials to conduct a full and transparent investigation into the surveillance of journalist Thanasis Koukakis. From July to September 2021, Koukakis, a financial editor for…
CPJ joins call for Romanian authorities to investigate harassment of journalist Emilia Șercan
The Committee to Protect Journalists joined nine international press freedom organizations in an open letter on April 14, 2022, calling on Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă and other government officials to conduct a swift and independent investigation into the harassment of investigative journalist Emilia Șercan. Since January, Șercan has received threatening emails and social media…
Emily Bell: Tech companies must ‘wake up’ to their role in Ukraine war disinformation
As Russia wages an information war alongside its physical war in Ukraine, tech companies have responded with measures small and large, from reducing the visibility of propagandistic social media posts to blocking Russian state-affiliated media, to going beyond international sanctions by pulling out of the country altogether. Meanwhile, Ukrainian journalists, citizens, and officials have used…
How Venezuela’s government uses private internet providers to restrict access to the news
After seven years of painstakingly building up its audience, Crónica Uno, one of the only high-quality news websites that caters to poor and working-class Venezuelans, was recording up to 15,000 unique page views per day. But after private internet service providers (ISPs) teamed up with Venezuela’s authoritarian government in February to block Crónica Uno and…
Hungarian journalists fear Orbán will use election win to tighten grip on independent media
As Hungary’s right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orbán celebrated his landslide election win on Sunday with jubilant jibes at the European Union’s “bureaucrats in Brussels” and international media, the country’s independent journalists braced themselves for an even harsher media climate during his Fidesz party’s unprecedented fourth consecutive term in office. Orbán has systematically eroded Hungary’s independent…
Indian journalist Rana Ayyub on facing death threats and a money laundering probe
Rana Ayyub, is one of India’s most high-profile investigative journalists, with a Washington Post column, a Substack newsletter, a popular Twitter presence with an audience of 1.5 million, as well as a controversial 2016 book alleging that government officials were implicated in the 2002 riots that killed Muslims in Gujarat. But in recent months Indian…
CPJ joins statement welcoming Council of Europe action against abusive lawsuits
The Committee to Protect Journalists joined other civil society groups and press freedom organizations in a joint statement on Wednesday welcoming recent steps by the Council of Europe to limit abusive lawsuits aimed at restricting public speech. A Committee of Experts with legal and media freedom backgrounds is set to draft a Recommendation for the…