Features & Analysis

  
A Penn State news conference in 2014. A sports journalist who helped break the story about convicted Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky says she abandoned Twitter because of threatening messages. (AP/Matt Rourke)

Dark side of sports journalism as fans harass female reporters online

“I say we put her email address in all the porn sites. From FSU with love,” one user wrote on 247Sports.com, a CBS message-board about college and professional sports. The FSU stands for Florida State University and the “her” is ESPN investigative journalist Paula Lavigne.

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The 100% Noticias building is seen in Managua on December 22, 2018, one day after it was raided and closed by the Nicaraguan police. Two journalists from the broadcaster remain in detention. (Maynor Valenzuela/AFP)

CPJ, RSF call on Nicaragua to release two journalists held on terrorism charges

The Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders today condemned the detention of two independent journalists in Nicaragua, and called on Nicaraguan authorities to immediately release them and drop all charges against them.

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A sign reading 'Cumhuriyet will not be silent' is held during a protest outside Istanbul's court house in September 2017. An appeals court in February upheld the convictions of six staff at the paper. (AFP/Yasin Akgul)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of February 17, 2019

Appeals court upholds Cumhuriyet verdict An Istanbul appeals court on February 19 upheld the terrorism-related convictions of staff from the daily Cumhuriyet who were earlier sentenced to five years or less in prison, according to reports. CPJ condemned the decision. The decision means that at least six defendants, including a cartoonist, journalists, a lawyer, an…

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A protester uses his cell phone to film at a demonstration in Basra in January. Militias and Iraqi security forces are attacking and detaining journalists who cover protests in the city. (AFP/Hussein Faleh)

Iraqi militias use threats, violence to keep Basra press in line

“You work against us. In your work, you criticize militias. We watched your videos and you talk against us. You will pay the price for it,” an anonymous voice said on the other end of the line to freelance reporter Azhar Al-Rubaie.

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Voters line up at a polling station in Sukma in Chhattisgarh state on November 12, 2018. The state's newly elected state minister is setting up a committee to draft a journalist safety law. (AFP)

Chhattisgarh’s plan for journalist safety law could be template for all India

Every day for two years, freelance journalist Santosh Yadav must walk the 50 or so yards from his home to the Darbha village police station in Bastar, Chhattisgarh, to sign a register. Just one missed day could immediately land him back in prison as he awaits trial on anti-terror charges. A police commander said that…

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An electoral worker prepares identity card and biometric verification readers, at the offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Kano, northern Nigeria, on February 14, 2019. CPJ joined a call for Nigeria to ensure that internet and social media services remain connected during the upcoming elections. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

CPJ joins call for Nigeria to ensure internet and social media services remain connected during elections

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined more than 15 rights organizations and the #KeepItOn Coalition to call for Nigerian authorities to ensure that internet and social media services remain connected during upcoming elections, and safeguard internet speeds of websites and messaging applications. In early February, Nigeria’s federal government denied rumors of plans to shut down…

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A police officer stands guard on a bridge during the 2018 Istanbul marathon. Two journalists were detained after separate raids in the city in February 2019. (AFP/Bulent Kilic)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of February 10

Police detain two journalists in separate raids Police on February 12 detained Salih Turan, a freelance journalist who formerly worked for the U.S. government-funded broadcaster Voice of America and the Kurdish service of the Russian-state-funded outlet Sputnik, on accusations of “making propaganda of a [terrorist] organization” on social media and “being a member of a…

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Broadcast equipment is placed on a poster during a protest in Istanbul in October 2017 over Turkey's press freedom crackdown. CPJ is joining a call for Turkish authorities to release all journalists jailed for their work. (AP/Lefteris Pitarakis)

CPJ joins call for Turkey to release jailed journalists

The Committee to Protect Journalists today joined 47 members of the European Parliament and other press freedom organizations to call on Turkey to end its crackdown on the press and the mass imprisonment of journalists.

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The European Parliament prepares for a debate on press freedom in Strasbourg in March, following the murder of Slovak investigative journalist Ján Kuciak. The Council of Europe's platform on journalist safety finds the media increasingly faces hostility. (AFP/Frederick Florin)

Council of Europe report finds journalists face obstruction, violence

The Council of Europe Platform for the Protection of Journalism and the Safety of Journalists today published its annual report, “Democracy at Risk.”

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The Independence Arch is pictured in Accra, Ghana. Authorities have failed to hold anyone to account in recent attacks on journalists. (CPJ/Jonathan Rozen)

Ghana won’t have press freedom without accountability

Three bullets, fired at close range by two assassins on a black and blue Boxer motorbike on January 16, 2019, killed investigative journalist Ahmed Hussein-Suale Divela, according to Sammy Darko, a lawyer working on Divela’s case. Darko told CPJ over the phone that bystanders saw it happen. Ghana’s media community, international rights groups (including CPJ),…

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