Public health still risky topic for Chinese journalists
Public health reporting is improving in China, but not fast enough. A new Human Rights Watch report on child lead poisoning in Chinese cities documents harassment of local journalists trying to cover the problem. “Journalists who reported on the lead poisoning in three of the four locations told Human Rights Watch that police had followed…
In Kenya, hospital staff said to attack journalist
New York, June 20, 2011–Four employees of the Wajir District Hospital attacked journalist Abdi Hassan Hussein at the hospital on Saturday, the reporter told the Committee to Protect Journalists. Hassan, a reporter for the Wajir Community Radio Station in the far northeastern corner of the country, said he visited the hospital with three colleagues to…
Video report: A journalist in exile
In “A Journalist in Exile,” Cameroonian reporter Agnès Tailè talks about the challenges she faces after leaving her home for the United States. Tailè tells CPJ’s Sheryl A. Mendez how she was abducted, beaten, and threatened in connection with her critical reporting about social issues and armed conflict. (3:41)Read our accompanying special report, “Journalists in…
Surviving, thriving in exile: Q&A with Dina Yafasova
In September 2001, CPJ received a worrisome call. Uzbek journalist Dina Yafasova had been roughly interrogated by the Uzbek National Security Service, which threatened her with imminent arrest and physical abuse unless she revealed sources and names of articles she wrote for international publications. She left the agency deeply shaken and within days had left…
In exile: From a Cameroonian jail to immigration limbo
I was arbitrary and unlawfully arrested and detained in a heavily secured military police detention facility in Cameroon for 40 days. I had to bribe my way out of the country to seek sanctuary and protection. Cameroon is a dictatorship dressed up as a fake democracy, with a leader in power for more than 29 years. As…
CPJ’s exiled journalists survey: Behind the numbers
In 2007, my colleague Karen Phillips suggested we do something to mark World Refugee Day. Initially planning to publish a brief statement, I set about reviewing our data for background, checking in with older journalist cases about their current situation and looking broadly for trends to highlight. As the number of cases began counting into…
The Internet in East Africa: An aid or a weapon?
Frank Nyakairu has seen it all. A veteran war reporter, he has covered the horrors of northern Uganda and Somalia, among others places. And throughout this time of rich but often appalling experiences, he has also seen the auspicious–and sometimes terrifying–impact the Internet has had on East African reporters. Nyakairu spoke at a recent workshop held…
Wounded Pakistani journalist succumbs to burn injuries
New York, June 17, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists joins with our colleagues in Pakistan in mourning the death of of reporter Shafiullah Khan, who died Friday of injuries he had sustained in a June 11 suicide bombing in Peshawar, the administrative center for Pakistan’s strife-torn Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) along the border with…
