For Haitian media, a big story amid big demands
In the aftermath of the January 12 earthquake, Kerby Joseph stays on the job. He helps gather news for Amikal FM, a radio station that now broadcasts from a tent in the devastated Haitian town of Leogane, where most of the buildings have been damaged or destroyed. But the radio station lacks the money to…
Honduran radio reporter gunned down
New York, March 12, 2010—Unidentified gunmen killed radio journalist David Meza Montesinos on Thursday as he was driving in the Honduran city of La Ceiba, local press reports said. The Committee to Protect Journalists urged authorities today to fully investigate Meza’s killing and bring those responsible to justice.
Nigerian reporter assaulted at mass funeral
New York, March 11, 2010—An angry crowd of mourners attending a mass funeral in Dogo Nahawa, central Nigeria, assaulted state radio reporter Murtala Sani on Monday. Sani, a reporter for the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, was assigned to cover the funeral of more than 40 people killed during a bloody March 7 attack on…
Egyptian blogger Abbas, cleared once, is convicted anew
New York, March 11, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a court decision to sentence the popular and award-winning Egyptian blogger Wael Abbas, left, to six months in prison and calls on Egyptian authorities to put an end to years-long harassment leveled against him.
Chinese official urges political education for journalists
New York, March 11, 2010—A state official responsible for media regulation said Wednesday the government should require Chinese journalists to obtain official training to report the news, according to local and international news reports. Domestic journalists already need government-issued identity cards to work in China.
CPJ alarmed by harassment of journalists in Cameroon
Dear President Biya: We are writing to express our alarm at the harassment and abuse of at least a dozen journalists in Cameroon. These reporters each raised questions about your administration’s management of public finances, the progress of an anti-corruption drive dubbed Operation Sparrowhawk, and local government affairs. We call on you to hold members of the administration accountable for using security forces and criminal laws to settle scores with the media. We further urge you to initiate reforms that would refer matters of defamation to civil courts.
Drug-related violence endangers media in Reynosa
New York, March 11, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by a wave of drug-related violence in the Mexican city of Reynosa, near the Texas border, which is endangering the news media and causing widespread self-censorship. In the past two weeks, several journalists have been abducted and one reporter has died in unclear circumstances,…
Rallying (hesitantly) for reporters abducted in Afghanistan
What can we do to help liberate our colleagues? French journalists have been struggling with this dilemma since December 30, when two reporters of the public service TV channel France 3 and their three Afghan fixers were abducted by a group purportedly linked to the Taliban in the region of Kapisa, in eastern Afghanistan.
Uzbekistan using ‘experts’ to silence journalists, activists
Having suppressed independent journalism relatively completely in the country, the authoritarian Uzbek regime has now turned to other sectors of society it perceives as threatening to its ideology. State appointed so-called “experts” on undefined Uzbek national traditions are being dispatched on a witch hunt against independent-minded individuals, including a filmmaker and an anti-HIV/AIDS activist. This dangerous policy is in…