DRC security forces harass journalists covering Kabila protests
Security forces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on December 31, 2017, harassed at least three journalists who were reporting on protests in the capital, Kinshasa, over President Joseph Kabila’s refusal to stand down when his second five-year term in office expired in 2016 and his refusal to hold elections, according to local journalists…
In Maldives, at least three journalists detained over protest coverage
New York, March 16, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Maldivian authorities to immediately release three Raajje TV journalists who, according to their pro-opposition station, were detained today over their coverage of anti-government protests in the capital, Malé.
Ecuador pledges to reform repressive media law
Country needs free press for Moreno’s fight against corruption Quito, Ecuador, March 16, 2018 –The government of Ecuador pledged in a meeting Wednesday with the Committee to Protect Journalists to reform an oppressive communications law this year and to invite international experts to visit the country and analyze Ecuador’s compliance with international legal standards.
Chinese authorities briefly detain RFI correspondent in Beijing
Police in Beijing detained French journalist Heike Schmidt, the China correspondent for the French Foreign Ministry-funded outlet, Radio France Internationale, for about an hour on March 9, 2018, and confiscated her tape recorder, according to the journalist’s outlet.
After murders of Kuciak and Caruana Galizia, investigative journalists band together for justice
The assassinations of Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta in October and of Ján Kuciak in Slovakia last month have elicited an outpouring of support from journalists determined to honor the memory of their colleagues by fighting back with the weapon they wield best: journalism.
YouTube labels on public broadcasters draw ire in US, Russia
With claims to more than one billion users consuming content in 76 languages, Google’s YouTube has become a core part of most media outlets’ dissemination strategy. And although there are 88 localized versions of the service, YouTube.com remains the largest and most influential platform for reaching a global audience. Which is why, when the site…
Journalists covering protests in US risk getting caught up in police kettling tactic
On September 17 last year, St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Mike Faulk was covering protests over the acquittal of a former police officer in the killing in 2011 of man named Anthony Lamar Smith. At about 11 p.m., officers formed a line across Washington Avenue near Tucker Boulevard in downtown St. Louis, and officers in full…
Journalists covering US white supremacists must weigh risks to selves and families
Michael Edison Hayden was one of the first foreign journalists on the ground after the Nepalese earthquake in 2015– the “ground was still shaking” when he arrived, he said. He’s reported from the disputed territory between India and Pakistan in Kashmir, and gone door-to-door in Phoenix, searching for a mass killer. But, Hayden said, reporting…
Airstrike kills Syrian photographer in eastern Ghouta
Beirut, March 14, 2018–Bashar al-Attar, a photographer for the pro-opposition Arbin Unified Media Office, died from injuries sustained in a March 12 airstrike in the rebel-held eastern Ghouta area of Syria, outside of Damascus, according to his employer and the Syrian Journalists Association.
CPJ joins call for Kyrgyzstan to end restrictive media practices
The Committee to Protect Journalists joined a coalition of 28 other international press freedom organizations to call on Kyrgyz authorities to drop defamation lawsuits and to end the practice of using disproportionate fines, travel bans and other harsh penalties to punish critical media outlets and journalists.