CPJ mourns the passing of Richard Holbrooke
Richard C. Holbrooke, “one of the giants of American foreign policy” in President Barack Obama’s words, was also an ally of press freedom and a good friend to CPJ. In a statement marking Holbrooke’s death at age 69, Chairman Paul E. Steiger said: “CPJ mourns the passing of Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke. He was a…
In Lebanon, Gebran Tueni’s daughter seeks the truth
On a rainy Sunday in downtown Beirut, in St. George Cathedral at Place d’Etoile, the family of murdered Lebanese journalist Gebran Tueni gathered with the staff of his newspaper, Al-Nahar, to hold a memorial marking the fifth anniversary of Tueni’s assassination. The memorial was held in the same church where Tueni was married in 2001,…
Being a Cuban journalist: Harassed, repressed, and jailed
The president of the tribunal looked to his right and said, “The prosecutor has the floor.” With a serious voice he pronounced the sentence: “The prosecutor ratifies the request for perpetual imprisonment for the accused, Victor Rolando Arroyo Carmona, for acts against the independence and territorial integrity of the country.”
Mission Journal: Behind bars in Burundi
“They like me in here,” editor Jean-Claude Kavumbagu said of his fellow prisoners. But sub-Saharan Africa’s only jailed online journalist still pays protection money to stay safe in Bujumbura’s Mpimba Prison.The Net Press editor has been here since police arrested him on July 17. He was charged with treason over an article that questioned the competence of Burundi’s security…
Lebanon tries to modernize its chaotic media laws
Current Lebanese media laws exist in the perfect state of chaos. For example, a print journalist who is a member of the Journalists’ Syndicate, according to the Publication Law, is protected from administrative arrest for an opinion piece or an article he writes. However, if the same journalist broadcasts the very same opinion and some…
An empty chair in Oslo shows China is empty of media ideas
It was more than Liu Xiaobo’s chair that was empty at Thursday’s Nobel Peace Prize ceremony. What was also on display to the world was China’s lack of a new approach to media that goes beyond its decades-old approach of controlling through denial and suppression.
Internet Blotter
Venezuela prepares law to regulate media, including the Internet. Iranian blogger Hossein Derakhshan briefly released from jail on $1.5 million bail… …but fellow Iranian-Canadian anti-censorship software designer Saeed Malekpour still faces death penalty. Syrian telecom minister says awareness of the dangers, not censorship of the Internet is the solution.
With 145 journalists behind bars, what’s in a number?
Today we released our annual census of imprisoned journalists around the world, citing 145 reporters, editors, and photojournalists behind bars on December 1, an increase of nine from 2009 figures. The tally begs the question, What’s in a number?
Fighting bogus piracy raids, Microsoft issues new licenses
CPJ has documented for several years the use of spurious anti-piracy raids to shut down and intimidate media organizations in Russia and the former Soviet republics. Offices have been shut down, and computers seized. Often, security agents make bogus claims to be representing or acting on behalf of the U.S. software company Microsoft.