Mahoney: UN can help journalists beyond World Press Freedom Day
New York, May 1, 2023–Evan Gershkovich and Jimmy Lai are about to spend World Press Freedom Day behind bars. Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal Moscow correspondent, and Lai, a pro-democracy Hong Kong media magnate, are among record numbers of journalists in prison as the United Nations marks the 30th anniversary of its special day for…
Nigerian justice minister misrepresents CPJ research on attacks on journalists
New York, April 28, 2023—Nigerian authorities should revise recent statements falsely characterizing CPJ’s research on the press freedom situation in the country, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. On Thursday, April 27, the state-run News Agency of Nigeria reported that Attorney General and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami described CPJ’s research in a meeting…
CPJ releases report on EU’s progress on press freedom
The EU traditionally has been considered among the world’s safest and freest places for journalists. However, reporters working in its 27 member states are under increasing pressure, with several killed because of their work. Others have been censored, spied upon, harassed online, overwhelmed with disinformation, subjected to vexatious lawsuits, charged with revealing state secrets, beaten…
Chinese authorities detain Taiwan-based publisher and radio host Li Yanhe on national security charge
Taipei, April 26, 2023—Chinese authorities must immediately release radio host Li Yanhe and drop any charges against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. In March, state security officers in Shanghai detained Li, a book publisher and radio host for Taiwanese public broadcaster Radio Taiwan International, who goes by the name Fucha, while he…
EU progress on press freedom mired in contradictions, CPJ report finds
European Union media reforms hang in the balance ahead of critical 2024 elections New York, April 25—The European Union (EU) is inconsistent in delivering on its own commitments to press freedom, according to a special report published Tuesday by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). “Fragile Progress: The struggle for press freedom in the European Union”finds…
Fragile Progress: The struggle for press freedom in the European Union
By Jean-Paul Marthoz and Tom Gibson The European Union is facing numerous challenges as it seeks new ways to uphold its commitment to press freedom. This special report – a follow-up to the Committee to Protect Journalists’ 2015 report “Balancing Act: Press freedom at risk as EU struggles to match action with values” – examines…
Fragile Progress: Part 1
A CPJ special report on the struggle for press freedom in the EU Introduction European Union countries have traditionally been considered among the safest and freest places for journalists in the world. Yet, as the European Commission noted in November 2021, “the number of threats and attacks against them [journalists] have been on the rise in…
Fragile Progress: Part 2
Upholding the law Other governments, like those headed by Slovenia’s “pro-Trump populist”80 Prime Minister Janez Janša from 2020-2022 and Greece’s conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, also adopted illiberal practices, from media capture to public denigration of critical journalists.81 Yet the European Union can only act in those areas where its member states have authorized it…
Fragile Progress: Part 3
A CPJ special report on the struggle for press freedom in the EU Spyware and the EU In July 2021 the Pegasus Project, an investigation led by Forbidden Stories with the assistance of Amnesty International’s Security Lab,112 revealed how some EU countries, in spite of being officially committed to protect journalists’ freedom, had used surveillance…
Fragile Progress: Part 4
A CPJ special report on the struggle for press freedom in the EU EU access and transparency The press corps remains a major actor in Brussels in spite of a decline in the number of accredited correspondents as many legacy media downsized staff or began covering the EU from outside of Brussels. The European Commission’s…