Ahead of national elections in the Philippines on May 9, the State has stepped up its attacks on Nobel Laureate Maria Ressa and the news outlet she leads, Rappler. “This dramatic escalation in the legal harassment of Maria Ressa and Rappler highlights the urgent need for the Philippines’ to decriminalize libel and do away with laws…
Number of jailed journalists spikes to new global record CPJ’s annual prison census has found that 363 reporters were deprived of their freedom as of December 1, 2022 – a new global high that overtakes last year’s record by 20% and marks another grim milestone in a deteriorating media landscape. This year’s top five jailers of journalists…
In New York City, police arrested photojournalist Amr Alfiky on Tuesday as he filmed an arrest underway on the street. Police held Alfiky in custody for about 3.5 hours and confiscated his press credentials. He was released after being charged with disorderly conduct. An NYPD spokesman told New York Daily News that Alfiky did not…
A National Geographic reporter was wounded in a shootout in Mexico’s Ciudad Juárez last Friday. The attack occurred while a camera crew was conducting an interview with an alleged member of a criminal gang. Mexico is the deadliest country for journalists in 2019, with at least five killed in relation to their work so far;…
On August 5, the Indian government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi imposed a strict communication blackout in Jammu and Kashmir after stripping the state of its limited autonomous status under the Indian constitution. As restrictions continue, CPJ’s India correspondent, Kunal Majumder, traveled to Srinagar, Kashmir’s largest city, to speak to local journalists and find…
Pakistan’s federal cabinet has approved an initiative to establish specialized courts aimed at resolving media-related issues, the government announced on Tuesday. CPJ expressed serious concerns about this plan. On Monday, CPJ voiced apprehension over the appeal of Aleksei Pukach, who was convicted of murdering Ukrainian investigative journalist Georgy Gongadze in 2000. The appeal hearings began…
CPJ released its report on the world’s 10 most censored countries on Tuesday. We found that repressive governments are using sophisticated digital censorship and surveillance alongside more traditional methods to silence independent media. Read more here. On July 4, the Cuban government issued Decree 370 that establishes the “informatization of society.” Article 68 bans “hosting…
Do you have five minutes? Please take this survey to help us improve this newsletter. Thank you! In the span of just two days, at least seven journalists were arrested in Turkey in the cities of Diyarbakır, Mardin, and Istanbul. Turkey has been the world’s worst jailer of journalists for three successive years, with at…
In the last month, at least 11 journalists and media workers were arrested in Venezuela, Ethiopia, Senegal, Somaliland, Cameroon, and Iran. This week marks seven years since the disappearance of U.S. freelance photojournalist Austin Tice while reporting in Syria. Read more about his case here. Meanwhile in southern Haiti, journalist Luckson Saint-Vil survived a shooting…
Do you have five minutes? Please take this survey to help us improve this newsletter. Thank you! Three journalists were killed in Mexico in less than a week. CPJ is investigating to determine if they were killed in retaliation for their work. Jorge Celestino Ruiz Vázquez, a reporter for the newspaper El Gráfico, was shot…