South African journalist Karyn Maughan criminally charged over report on former President Zuma
Lusaka, September 20, 2022 – Former South African President Jacob Zuma and his legal team should immediately drop their private criminal prosecution against Karyn Maughan, a reporter with the privately owned News24 site, and allow the press to report on court proceedings without intimidation or fear of reprisal, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday….
Digital Safety: Protecting against online smear campaigns
Updated March 20, 2023 Media outlets and journalists are increasingly targeted by sophisticated smear campaigns designed to harm their credibility. Groups coordinate to spread false online content about them or their work, often targeting their social media accounts. Some such groups have undisclosed government backing. Posts often seek to undermine news reports and convince readers…
Turkey’s legal year begins with new terrorism charges, convictions for journalists
In the first week of the legal year when courts open, Turkish courts convicted two journalists on terrorism charges, brought new terrorism charges against two others, and rejected an appeal for the release of 15 journalists and one media worker, who have been in pretrial detention for nearly three months. On Wednesday, September 7, 2022,…
‘An open-air prison’: Kashmiri journalists on how travel bans undermine press freedom
When Indian immigration officials stopped freelance Kashmiri journalist Aakash Hassan at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi international airport on July 26, they held him for several hours and questioned him about his family, his professional background and his reason for traveling – and refused to allow him to board his Sri Lanka flight because, they said, he was listed…
Somaliland’s ministry of information imposes indefinite ban on CBA TV
Nairobi, September 16, 2022—The Committee to Protect Journalists on Friday called on authorities in the breakaway region of Somaliland to allow the privately owned CBA TV broadcaster to resume operations and to desist from using bans to silence the press. In a September 6 letter, the minister of information Suleyman Yusuf Ali, also known as…
Journalists tell CPJ how Tunisia’s tough new constitution curbs their access to information
On a recent CPJ mission to Tunisia, local journalists spoke to CPJ about the erosion of press freedom alongside other human rights in the country over the last 14 months. In July 2021, Tunisia President Kais Saied fired Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi and suspended parliament, granting himself sole executive power. A year later, a heavily…
Vietnam sentences blogger Le Anh Hung to 5 years in prison
Bangkok, September 16, 2022 – Vietnamese authorities should immediately and unconditionally release imprisoned blogger Le Anh Hung and stop harassing journalists on spurious anti-state charges, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. On August 30, the Hanoi People’s Court convicted and sentenced Hung to five years in prison under Article 331 of the penal code, an anti-state…
Journalists tell CPJ how Tunisia’s tough new constitution curbs their access to information
When a CPJ researcher sat down with Lotfi Hajji, Tunisia bureau chief of Qatari broadcaster Al-Jazeera at a coffee shop in Tunis in July, we noticed that a man sitting directly behind us was recording our conversation on his phone. When we stood up to take a selfie with him in the background, the man…
Russian Journalists’ and Media Workers’ Union shuttered by Moscow court order
Paris, September 14, 2022 — In response to news reports that the Moscow city court on Wednesday closed the independent Russian Journalists’ and Media Workers’ Union trade group at the request of Moscow’s prosecutor office, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement calling for authorities to reverse their decision and to let the union work freely:…