Disdaining press freedom, Kazakhstan undermines OSCE
President Nazarbayev’s government promised reforms in exchange for gaining chairmanship of the OSCE. But the reforms never materialized and now, as a summit approaches in Astana, the OSCE is risking damage to its own reputation. A CPJ special report by Nina Ognianova
Journalist stabbed to death in Buenos Aires
New York, September 10, 2010–Unidentified assailants stabbed reporter Adams Ledesma Valenzuela to death in an impoverished neighborhood in Buenos Aires on Saturday, local and international press reported. The Committee to Protect Journalists called on local authorities today to fully investigate the murder and to bring all those responsible to justice.
New media tools bring Mozambican crisis to the world
This week’s deadly unrest in Mozambique became a global news story in part because reporters and citizen journalists used new media and social networking tools. Clashes between security forces and people protesting rising prices in the capital, Maputo, left at least seven people dead and more than 200 people injured, according to the latest news…
In Colombia, gang threats force reporter to flee
My chance encounter last year with Los Paisas, a criminal gang that operates in northern Colombia, began a nightmare that continues today. I was heading to an assignment in a tourist area south of Montería on July 9, 2009, when Los Paisas gang members blocked my car. The gang was meeting with local landowners nearby–and…
A lesson for South African media: Look to Kenya
The chorus of voices opposing the South African government’s proposed Protection of Information Bill and state-backed ombudsman continue to grow. South Africa’s Business Day estimates the press produces three articles per day opposing what many journalists see as an attempt by the ruling party to muzzle investigative reporting. More than 30 editors from major papers published protest messages…
French officer proves ‘allergic’ to photos in Togo
It has been a week since Togolese photojournalist Komi Agbedivlo, better known as “Didier Ledoux,” was verbally abused by a military officer from France as he covered a political demonstration in the capital, Lome. The incident might have gone unnoticed, if not for social media and a year charged with historical symbolism for Togo, which is celebrating 50 years of independence from France. So the…
CPJ decries charges against journalists in Kyrgyzstan
New York, August 12, 2010–Trumped-up charges of extremism against Ulugbek Abdusalomov, the editor of an independent newspaper, and Azimjon Askarov, a journalist and human rights defender, should be dropped immediately, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.