As the Internet and mobile communications become more integrated into reporters’ work, the digital threats to journalists’ work and safety have increased as well. While many press reports have documented Internet surveillance and censorship–and the efforts to combat them–mobile communications are the new frontline for journalist security.
CPJ’s Journalist Assistance Program supports journalists who cannot be helped by advocacy alone. In 2011, we assisted 171 journalists worldwide. Almost a fourth came from countries that made CPJ’s Most Censored list. Eight journalists from Eritrea, five from Syria, six from Cuba, and a whopping 20 from Iran sought our help after being forced to…
New York, May 1, 2012–Syrian security forces harassed a credentialed camera crew from the British broadcaster Sky News as the team was filming an impromptu demonstration in Damascus today, according to news reports. Authorities briefly confiscated a camera and detained two journalists, the reports said.
Stop the bleeding. It’s a critical and fundamental step in aiding a journalist or anyone wounded in conflict. Hemorrhage is the number one preventable death on the battlefield. And yet large numbers of journalists covering wars and political unrest all across the world are untrained in this life-saving skill. It doesn’t need to be that…
New York, April 27, 2012–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Syria’s continued detention of at least 13 journalists and press freedom activists–and perhaps several more–and calls on authorities to release them immediately. In many instances, authorities have not disclosed the health, whereabouts, or charges filed against the detainees.
After the Salvadoran online newsmagazine El Faro exposed a secret government deal with criminal gangs last month, its staff faced repercussions that illustrate the new and complicated risks facing journalists worldwide. El Faro’s report, which said the government provided more lenient treatment of imprisoned gangsters in exchange for the groups’ agreement to slow down their…
New York, April 26, 2012–Supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood assaulted two Egyptian journalists seeking to cover a public conference held on Tuesday in Alexandria by a presidential candidate of the brotherhood’s political party, according to news reports.
New York, April 25, 2012–Jordanian journalist Jamal al-Muhtaseb has been detained since Monday on antistate charges after publishing an article alleging misconduct by the Royal Court, according to news reports. Al-Muhtaseb’s sister, the author of the article, was also arrested but was released the same day, news reports said.