CPJ calls for Zimbabwe president to reject ‘Patriot Bill’ threatening critical journalism
Lusaka, July 3, 2023—Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa should not sign into law the overly broad Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Amendment Bill as it seriously threatens the rights to freedom of expression and media freedom in Zimbabwe, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. On June 7, Zimbabwe’s upper chamber of parliament approved the bill,…
Patrick Lola
Congolese journalist Patrick Lola is detained in the central prison of Mbandaka, the capital of western Equateur province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, after being arrested on January 10, 2022, while covering a protest. The Court of Cassation in the capital, Kinshasa, granted Lola bail on August 19, 2022, but he remains in…
Congolese journalists Patrick Lola and Christian Bofaya unable to pay bail, denied release
Kinshasa, August 24, 2022 – Authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo should drop all legal proceedings against journalists Patrick Lola and Christian Bofaya after they spent more than eight months in arbitrary detention, and should not use excessive bail to keep journalists imprisoned, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. Lola, a freelance…
Some Ukrainian journalists are leaving the media for the military in the name of patriotism
Russia’s war in Ukraine, now in its third month, has already claimed an alarming number of journalists’ lives: at least seven killed in crossfire while reporting and at least six more who died in circumstances that CPJ continues to investigate. There are at least 10 more names that do not appear on CPJ’s list of journalists killed…
Patrice Gbaguidi
Benin journalist Patrice Gbaguidi and his colleague Hervé Alladé have been jailed in Cotonou, Benin’s largest city, since November 2021 on accusations that they violated the country’s digital code because their report about a public official’s alleged wrongdoing was distributed on social media. Gbaguidi, is the editor at Le Soleil Bénin Infos newspaper, which covers…
Unidentified attackers shoot at car of Mexican journalist Beatriz Flores after she received threatening call
Mexico City, November 17, 2021 – Mexican authorities must immediately and transparently investigate the threats against journalist Beatriz Flores and the shooting attack on her car in Tepeji del Río, in the central Mexican state of Hidalgo, and federal authorities must provide her with protection, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Flores told CPJ…
Zambian Patriotic Front supporters attack 2 journalists
Lusaka, Zambia, May 4, 2021 – Zambian authorities must thoroughly investigate the recent attack on two reporters and ensure that the press can work freely and safely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On May 1, supporters of two factions of the ruling Patriotic Front political party violently clashed at the party’s headquarters in…
Brazilian journalist Patrícia Campos Mello sued President Bolsonaro’s son for moral damages – and won
In May of last year, Eduardo Bolsonaro, a Brazilian congressman and the son of President Jair Bolsonaro, made a series of searing accusations against journalist Patrícia Campos Mello on the YouTube channel of far-right media company Terça Livre. He claimed that Campos Mello, a reporter with Brazilian daily Folha de S.Paulo, had attempted to use sex to…
Northern Ireland police investigating graffiti threats to reporter Patricia Devlin
On February 12, 2021, graffiti painted by unidentified people appeared at three locations in Belfast, Northern Ireland, featuring a gun crosshair and the name of Patricia Devlin, a reporter for the Irish newspaper Sunday World, according to a report by her employer and Devlin, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app. Police have opened an…
When police patrol protests in military gear, journalists face a hostile reporting environment
When St. Louis Post-Dispatch photographer David Carson was covering protests against police violence in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014, he said other reporters often asked him what it was like to get teargassed night after night. These days, he told CPJ, he rarely gets asked that question: “Now all of my journalist friends have been teargassed.” Tear gassings, rubber…