Features & Analysis

  
A Warao man fishes on the Orinoco Delta in 2009. A group of journalists from the indigenous community are running a news website to cover issues affecting the Venezuelan region. (Reuters/Jorge Silva)

From power cuts to powerful threats, Venezuela’s indigenous journalists face a series of challenges in their reporting

Three twentysomethings huddle over a desk in a small room in Tucupita, a low-slung city of about 90,000 people that spills across the Orinoco river delta region in northeastern Venezuela. Far from the tear gas and street conflicts roiling cities including Caracas and Valencia, these journalists are focused on reporting the latest story from the…

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Images of 43 missing students from Guerrero state hang from a tree in Mexico City . Journalists reporting on violence in the state, and on the case of the students, face threats and violence. (AP/Marcos Ugarte)

On the front lines of reporting in Guerrero, Mexico’s most-violent state

Several months ago, during a three-day journalism congress in Mexico City, a reporter from the southern Mexican state of Guerrero took out his cell phone and scrolled through a series of pictures. The photos showed teenagers smiling at the camera, carrying automatic rifles, and sporting bulletproof vests.

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Protesters in Silivri, Turkey demonstrate in support of journalists and staff from the Cumhuriyet newspaper who Turkish officials have accused of aiding terror organizations. Their trial is part of a larger media crackdown under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of September 10, 2017

Court orders four Cumhuriyet managers and journalists to remain in custody for trial A Turkish court remanded four members of the Cumhuriyet newspaper yesterday who are on trial for terrorism-related charges, according to reports from their employer and Reuters.

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Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of September 3, 2017

Columnist’s passport returned Turkish authorities on September 7 returned Aslı Erdoğan, a former advisory board member of the shuttered pro-Kurdish daily Özgür Gündem and a frequent columnist, her passport, according to the Hürriyet Daily News website, which cites Erdoğan’s lawyer.

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Members of the Journalists Union of Turkey shout slogans during a demonstration to mark World Press Freedom Day in Istanbul, Turkey on May 3. The placard reads: "Enough!" (Reuters/Murad Sezer)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of August 27, 2017

Turkish authorities confiscate columnist’s passport Turkish police confiscated Aslı Erdoğan’s passport as the former advisory board member of the shuttered pro-Kurdish daily Özgür Gündem and frequent columnist was on her way to Germany to accept an award for her work, according to a report yesterday on the online news site sendka.org.

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Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of August 20, 2017

New decree used to shutter three pro-Kurdish outlets The Turkey government shuttered three more pro-Kurdish media outlets yesterday, using a new decree issued under the state of emergency that has been in place since the failed attempted coup last year, the daily Cumhuriyet reported. Decree 693 was used to shutter the Dihaber news agency, the…

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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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