Philippine anti-communist task force threatens Rappler with legal action
Bangkok, February 8, 2022 – Philippine authorities must drop their legal threats against the independent news outlet Rappler and allow the press to work without fear of legal harassment, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. On Saturday, February 5, Lorraine Marie T. Badoy, a spokesperson for the National Task Force to End Local Communist…
CPJ condemns cyberattack on News Corp media publications
Washington, D.C., February 7, 2022—The Committee to Protect Journalists on Monday expressed grave concern about the cyberattack on News Corp that gave hackers access to journalists’ emails and other documents, and urged Chinese authorities to conduct a thorough investigation into who was behind the attack. The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that the attack…
Kashmir journalist Fahad Shah arrested over ‘anti-national content’
New Delhi, February 4, 2022 – Authorities in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir must immediately and unconditionally release journalist Fahad Shah, drop any investigation into his work, and cease detaining members of the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. On Friday evening, authorities in Jammu and Kashmir arrested Shah, editor of the privately owned…
Independent Venezuelan news sites blocked by state-controlled and private service providers
Bogotá, February 4, 2022 – Fresh blocks on a handful of Venezuela’s few remaining independent news websites are a troubling sign of escalating press censorship, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. Journalists and experts say private internet service providers (ISPs) are censoring the sites for the first time, though they have been unavailable on…
Four Mexican journalists killed in a month
In Mexico, the killing of camera operator and video editor Roberto Toledo in Zitácuaro, a town 80 miles west of Mexico City, marks the fourth media worker killed in the country in less than a month in 2022. CPJ Latin America and the Caribbean Program Coordinator Natalie Southwick discussed the climate for journalists in Mexico…
CPJ joins letter calling for release of journalists, others arbitrarily detained in Cameroon
The Committee to Protect Journalists on Thursday, February 3, joined 26 other civil society organizations in calling on President Paul Biya to release all those arbitrarily detained in Cameroon for acts of free expression, including at least four journalists. The open letter, published during the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon, notes that the continent’s…
Palestinian Authority sentences journalist Abdulrahman Thahir to 3 months in prison
New York, February 3, 2022 – The Palestinian Authority should not contest journalist Abdulrahman Thahir’s appeal and should stop pursuing vague charges against members of the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. On January 20, a magistrate court in the West Bank city of Nablus sentenced Thahir, a freelance TV producer, to three…
Roberto Toledo is fourth Mexican journalist killed in less than four weeks
Mexico City, February 2, 2022 – Mexican authorities must immediately and transparently investigate the killing of Roberto Toledo and determine whether he was killed in retaliation for his work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. Toledo, a camera operator and video editor for news website Monitor Michoacán, was shot and killed on January 31,…
Opinion: The dilemma facing journalists covering the Beijing Olympics
I don’t envy journalists from around the world who are entering China to cover the Beijing Olympics, held February 4 to 20. Perhaps never in history have the rules of the road for covering the games been so murky and the potential dangers so great for journalists who step over an as-yet-undefined red line that…
Kyrgyzstan authorities investigate Kaktus.media for alleged ‘war propaganda’
Stockholm, February 2, 2022 – Kyrgyzstan authorities should drop their criminal investigation into independent news website Kaktus.media and allow all media outlets to operate freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. On Tuesday, the prosecutor general’s office announced a criminal investigation into Kaktus.media over its publication of an article, originally published by a Tajik…