Special Event Discussion Panel: From Audience to Activist
Today, people have the tools to hold power structures to account. Cellphone videos and live distribution channels are being used as evidence for advocacy in cases of police and military accountability, protests, and hate crimes. But, in a troubling trend, those involved in capturing and distributing the footage face serious repercussions. Join us for a…
Journalists arrested at Bangkok airport for carrying safety equipment
Bangkok, May 30, 2017–Thai authorities should drop all charges against two journalists arrested at Bangkok’s main airport today for carrying protective gear and should amend laws to allow journalists to carry potentially lifesaving, protective equipment, the Committee to Protect Journalists said.
Ukraine bans Russian media outlets, websites
New York, May 17, 2017–Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko should immediately reverse his order obstructing at least 19 Russian media companies, four popular Russian websites, and banning at least 13 journalists from entering the country for a year, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The decree, published on the Ukrainian presidency’s website on May 15,…
Ukraine expels Russian journalists trying to cover Eurovision contest
Ukraine’s state border service blocked Maria Remizova and Elena Boduen, correspondents of the Russian daily Komsomolskaya Pravda, and Ramil Sitdikov, a photojournalist of the Moscow-based pro-Kremlin broadcaster RT (formerly Russia Today), from entering the country, according to reports. The journalists were traveling to Ukraine to cover the Eurovision song contest, which is being hosted in…
Attackers beat TV journalist at his home in India’s Andhra Pradesh state
New Delhi, May 8, 2017–Authorities in India must investigate and bring to justice those responsible for an attack on freelance journalist Rama Reddy, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Reddy, a TV reporter, was attacked in apparent retaliation for his reporting on illegal sand mining, according to a report in The New Indian Express.
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of May 7
Editor detained at courthouse Police in Istanbul’s Çağlayan Courthouse today detained Çağlar Özbilgin, an editor for the leftist news website sendika.org, his employer reported. Özbilgin was there to attend a hearing of his trial on charges of “insulting the president,” but police detained him for a separate criminal investigation into him on suspicion of “provoking…
Expanded surveillance powers could threaten work of journalists in UK
Brussels, May 5, 2017–The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by news reports that the U.K. government wants to push telecommunication companies to introduce real-time surveillance and the removal of encryption. On Thursday, The Register published leaked draft regulations detailing how telecommunications operators would be required to grant real-time access to individuals under warrant within…
Global censorship of news reaches new levels of complexity
CPJ releases annual assessment of press freedom worldwide New York, April 25, 2017–Despite the promise of new information technologies, governments, non-state actors, and corporations worldwide are censoring vast amounts of information using complex and sophisticated tactics.