Features & Analysis

  
Journalists protest over the attack on a colleague in Islamabad in 2014. Pakistan's press has set up safety hubs in response to the attacks and threats the media recieve.(AFP/Aamir Qureshi)

In Pakistan, press safety hubs provide support and training for journalists at risk

When a criminal gang sent threatening messages to Ghulam Mustafa, the reporter said his only option was to stop working for the Pakistani station Geo News. Mustafa acknowledges that laying low for nearly three years was the right decision to ensure his safety, but he said, “Professionally, it was strange that I was not working.…

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A woman takes a selfie with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Istanbul, August 4, 2017. (Reuters/Murad Sezer)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of August 13, 2017

Court jails journalist pending trial for social media activity A court in Turkey’s southeastern Mardin province ordered Mehmet Sıddık Damar, a former reporter for the shuttered, pro-Kurdish Dicle News Agency (DİHA), jailed pending trial on charges of “propagandizing for a [terrorist] organization” in his social media posts, the news website Dihaber reported today. Damar had…

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A screen shot of a Dihaber video shows a police officer scuffling with journalists at an August 6 opposition party protest in Istanbul.

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of August 6, 2017

Police detain journalist Police detained Berivan Altan, a reporter for the news website Dihaber, at checkpoint in the southeastern province of Mersin last night because there was a warrant for her arrest, the website reported today. At the time of publication, Altan was at Mersin Courthouse waiting for a prosecutor to question her.

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Harlem Désir, pictured at France's National Assembly in Paris in July 2016, says he is committed to standing up for journalists in his new role as OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media. (AFP/Jacques Demarthon)

Q&A: Impunity and journalist safety are priority says new OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir

The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media plays a vital role that is valued by journalists and media freedom groups for its ability to speak out in defense of press freedom in participating states of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

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Campaign posters for local candidates are attached to pole in Nakuru. Several journalists say they have been threatened or attacked while covering the run up to Kenya's August 8 elections. (Reuters/Baz Ratner)

Amid tensions ahead of Kenyan vote, journalists face violence and threats

When a fight broke out during a political rally for Kenya’s Orange Democratic Movement in Kakamega county on May 4, Shaban Makokha was taking pictures for his newspaper, the Daily Nation. Makokha told CPJ that when police arrived to break up the fight, they demanded that he stop taking pictures, even after he identified himself…

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Women read newspapers in a Mogadishu market in 2010. Somali authorities are proposing changes to the country's media law, that include new restrictions for the press. (Reuters/Feisal Omar)

Q&A: Somali editor says efforts to make media law less restrictive don’t go far enough

On July 13, Somalia’s Cabinet approved proposed changes to the country’s national media law as part of a review to overhaul the regulatory framework under which journalists currently work. But Somali journalists and local media rights groups have criticized the government for not doing enough to provide journalists with a less restrictive environment.

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Press freedom advocates chant hold a banner saying "To hell with despotism, long live freedom" outside an Istanbul courthouse where journalists from Cumhuriyet newspaper stood trial, July 28, 2017. (Reuters/Murad Sezer)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of July 30, 2017

Court jails two journalists pending trial A court in the southeastern Turkish city of Gaziantep on August 2 ordered Furkan Gökşen, a reporter for the local newspaper Detay Haber, and Murat Güreş, a columnist for the local newspaper Ayıntap, jailed pending trial on charges of “violating the secrecy of an investigation,” the leftist daily newspaper…

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Egyptian photojournalist Mohammed Elshamy was forced to leave his home country for fear of arrest. Elshamy is showcasing his work as part of CPJ's Lens in Exile Instagram series. (Andrei Pungovschi)

Lens in Exile: CPJ Instagram takeover to put focus on photojournalists

To highlight the work of journalists living in exile, CPJ is collaborating with a group of photojournalists, who will take over our Instagram account to share their work, often from the very assignments that forced them to flee. As CPJ’s Journalist Assistance Program Coordinator and someone with a background in photography, it is project that…

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Journalists and press freedom advocates release balloons in front of the courthouse in Istanbul where 17 journalists and board members from Cumhuriyet newspaper were standing trial, July 24, 2017. (Reuters/Murad Sezer)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of July 23, 2017

Journalists to stand trial on charges of obtaining secret information Hatay’s Second Court of Penal Peace yesterday ordered Dihaber journalist Erdoğan Alayumat jailed pending trial on charges “obtaining secret information of the Republic of Turkey with the means of political and military espionage” and ordered Nuri Akman released on probation pending trial, their employer reported.…

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Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko, center, meets a CPJ delegation in Kiev in July to discuss the investigation into Pavel Sheremet's murder. (Press service of the Ukrainian president)

CPJ and rights groups call on President Poroshenko to prioritize Pavel Sheremet murder case

CPJ today joined seven other media rights organizations– all part of the Council of Europe’s Platform to protect journalism and promote the safety of journalists–in signing a joint letter to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. The letter calls on the president to ensure an effective investigation into the murder of Pavel Sheremet, the prominent journalist murdered…

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