India state assembly elections 2022: Journalist safety guide
PDF: English,ਪੰਜਾਬੀ, हिन्दी India is scheduled to hold legislative assembly elections in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa, Uttarakhand, and Manipur in February and March 2022. Media workers covering any of these elections should be aware of the potential risk of physical attack, intimidation, and harassment; online bullying; arrest and detention; and government restrictions…
‘Ongoing brutality’: Lourdes Maldonado third journalist killed in Mexico in less than a month
Mexico City, January 25, 2022 – Mexican authorities must immediately and thoroughly investigate the killing of reporter Lourdes Maldonado López, determine whether she was attacked in direct relation to her work and bring her attackers to justice. Maldonado, a veteran broadcast journalist, was shot dead in Tijuana, a city bordering the United States in the…
Turkish journalist Sedef Kabaş arrested for ‘insulting’ President Erdoğan
Istanbul, January 25, 2022 – Turkish authorities should immediately release journalist Sedef Kabaş, drop the charge of “insulting the president,” and cancel the fine and ban imposed on TELE1 TV, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. On January 22, 2022, an Istanbul court charged Turkish freelance journalist Sedef Kabaş with insulting President Recep Tayyip…
Asal Abasian on the danger of being a queer journalist in Iran
After journalist Asal Abasian escaped Iran for Turkey in 2021, they posted a photo of their cropped hair, freshly dyed green, on Instagram for their 30th birthday. “New year, New decade, New life…” Abasian wrote as the caption. As a queer journalist, Abasian’s sexual and professional identity had long put them at risk in Iran,…
Exiled Bangladeshi journalist Kanak Sarwar says sister’s detention won’t silence him
For years, exiled Bangladeshi journalist Kanak Sarwar advised his family members not to keep public profiles on Facebook, fearing his critical reporting would lead to harassment by supporters of the Awami League-led government. So he was alarmed when his sister, Nusrat Shahrin Raka, told him in September that someone had created a fake Facebook account…
U.S. press freedom under President Biden
Since his inauguration, U.S. President Joe Biden has underscored the importance of protecting press freedom. In a new report by CPJ, Leonard Downie Jr. finds an almost complete reversal from the Trump administration’s hostile anti-media rhetoric and a return to a more traditional relationship between the press and the White House. However, journalists and advocates…
Bangladeshi camera operator Hossain Baksh abducted, severely beaten while covering local elections
Washington, D.C., January 13, 2022 – Bangladesh authorities must conduct a swift and impartial investigation into the abduction and beating of Hossain Baksh and take steps to protect the safety of journalists covering union council elections, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. At approximately 6:45 a.m. on January 5, Hossain Baksh, a camera operator…
‘Night and day’: The Biden administration and the press
President Joe Biden’s approach to U.S. media is a stark contrast to Donald Trump’s vicious rhetoric. However, one year into the Biden administration, press freedom advocates remain concerned about issues like the president’s limited availability to journalists, the administration’s slow responses to requests for information, its planned extradition of Julian Assange, restrictions on media access…
Two Haitian journalists killed while reporting on gang violence in Port-au-Prince
Miami, January 7, 2022 – Haitian authorities must conduct a swift and thorough investigation into the brutal killings of journalists John Wesley Amady and Wilguens Louis-Saint, and bring those responsible to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Yesterday, suspected gang members shot Amady and Louis-Saint while they were reporting on the lack of…