Special report: When spyware turns phones into weapons
How zero-click surveillance threatens reporters, sources, and global press freedom By Fred Guterl Published October 13, 2022 Aida Alami has always been wary of surveillance. As a journalist from Morocco, a state with a track record of intercepting phone calls and messages of political rivals, activists, and journalists, she habitually took precautions to protect her…
Hold the Line Coalition urges Philippine president to keep Maria Ressa out of jail
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. should demonstrate his stated commitment to press freedom by ending the State’s attempts to jail Nobel Laureate Maria Ressa, who is threatened with imprisonment in a Philippine jail, the Hold the Line Coalition has urged. This week, the Philippine Court of Appeals rejected Ressa’s motion for a reconsideration of her 2020…
U.S. midterm election 2022: Journalist safety kit
The U.S. midterm elections will be held on Tuesday, November 8, 2022, in an increasingly polarized political climate. During this midterm election year, all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 35 of the 100 seats in the Senate will be contested. Online abuse and digital threats to journalists have been steadily increasing, as…
Voice of America reporter Sithu Aung Myint sentenced to three years in prison in Myanmar
Bangkok, October 11, 2022 – Myanmar’s military regime must immediately and unconditionally release journalist Sithu Aung Myint and stop using vague laws to harass and persecute members of the press for merely reporting the news, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. On October 7, an Insein Prison court in Yangon convicted and sentenced Sithu…
CPJ submits report on Brazil to United Nations Universal Periodic Review
Brazil’s human rights record is under review by the United Nations Human Rights Council through the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). This U.N. mechanism is a peer-review process that surveys the human rights performance of member states, monitoring progress from previous review cycles, and presents a list of recommendations on how a country can better fulfill…
CPJ renews calls on Philippines’ Marcos to drop cyber libel, other cases against Nobel laureate Maria Ressa
Bangkok, October 11, 2022 – In response to news reports that the Philippine Court of Appeals has denied Rappler CEO and executive editor Maria Ressa’s motion for reconsideration of her cyber libel conviction, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement on Tuesday: “CPJ laments the Philippine Court of Appeals decision against Rappler’s Maria Ressa and reiterates its call on…
DRC journalist Gauthier Sey Tshiang sentenced to one year in prison, fined over reports on public official
Kinshasa, October 7, 2022 — Authorities of the Democratic Republic of the Congo should not oppose journalist Gauthier Sey Tshiang’s appeal of his sentencing to one year in prison and a financial penalty over reporting about a public official, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. On September 19, the Kinshasa Gombe Peace Court sentenced…
CPJ, Knight Institute file FOIA for U.S. intelligence report on murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi
Just a few days after the grim four year anniversary of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University and CPJ Thursday filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the CIA, and…
Zimbabwean authorities charge journalist Hope Chizuzu under cybercrime law
Lusaka, October 6, 2022—Zimbabwean authorities should immediately drop charges against sports freelancer journalist Hope Chizuzu, return his electronic devices, and allow him to carry out his work freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. Around midmorning on September 29, police detectives went to Chizuzu’s office in the central business district of the capital Harare,…
Knight Institute and Committee to Protect Journalists Call for Release of Intelligence Report on Khashoggi Murder
Washington, D.C., October 6, 2022—The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University and the Committee to Protect Journalists today filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the CIA, and the Public Interest Declassification Board seeking immediate release of a U.S. intelligence report on the…