Togolese regulator suspends Tampa Express for 3 months for criticizing minister
Dakar, November 7, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Togolese authorities to reverse their three-month suspension of Tampa Express after the bi-monthly newspaper criticized a government minister. “Togolese authorities must allow Tampa Express to resume publication without delay,” said Angela Quintal, head of CPJ’s Africa program, in Durban. “Media regulations should be used to…
Mexican journalist Paty Bunbury shot dead in Colima, 2nd killed in less than 24 hours
Mexico City, October 31, 2024—Mexican authorities must immediately and transparently investigate Wednesday’s killing of journalist Patricia Ramírez González, also known as Paty Bunbury, in the city of Colima, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. Ramírez, an entertainment reporter for the privately owned Hechos newspaper, was the second Mexican journalist killed in less than 24…
Rico Sempurna Pasaribu
Rico Sempurna Pasaribu, a contributor with the local Tribrata TV, died with three of his family members in a June 27 morning house fire lit by assailants in Kabanjahe, Karo Regency, North Sumatra, multiple news outlets reported. North Sumatra police arrested three suspects, Yunus Saputra, Rudi Apri Sembiring and Bebas Ginting, in connection with the arson attack, according…
Assailants shoot at El Debate newspaper office in Mexico
Mexico City, October 18, 2024—CPJ is highly concerned after unidentified attackers fired at the offices of the El Debate newspaper at 11 p.m. on October 17, in Culiacán, the capital of the northern Mexican state of Sinaloa. No one was hurt; the building’s facade, two outlet cars, and two staff members’ personal vehicles were damaged…
A ‘culture of silence’ threatens press freedom under El Salvador President Bukele
Nearly 80,000 people have been detained, and up to 200 may have died in state custody, since El Salvador President Nayib Bukele’s declared a state of emergency in March 2022, temporarily suspending constitutional rights and civil liberties in the country in the name of fighting gang violence. Local journalists and human rights organizations have raised concerns that Bukele, who…
Taliban intelligence agents detain journalists Hekmat Aryan and Mahdi Ansary
New York, October 8, 2024—Taliban authorities should immediately and unconditionally release journalists Hekmat Aryan and Mahdi Ansary, who were detained by General Directorate of Intelligence agents in Afghanistan’s southern Ghazni province and the capital Kabul, respectively, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. “Taliban intelligence must release journalists Mahdi Ansary and Hekmat Aryan immediately and…
Wafa Al-Udaini
Wafa Al-Udaini, a 39-year-old Palestinian journalist who wrote for The Guardian newspaper and the pro-Palestinian Middle East Monitor and worked as an English-language media coordinator at the Gaza-based Al-Thuraya Media and Communications Foundation, was killed along with her husband and two of her children when an Israeli airstrike hit their home in the central Gazan…
Cameroon ratchets up media censorship ahead of 2025 election
Dakar, October 2, 2024—After a month of seeing an empty television studio with the word “censored” splashed across the screen, Cameroonians are finally able to watch Équinoxe TV’s flagship Sunday politics show “Droit de Réponse” again. The privately owned station fell foul of Cameroon’s regulatory National Communication Council (NCC), which judged it to have harmed…
On Edge: What the US election could mean for journalists and global press freedom
Journalists are bracing for the outcome of the 2024 U.S. presidential election. CPJ’s research ahead of the November vote finds that the hostile media climate fostered during Donald Trump’s presidency has continued to fester, with members of the press confronting challenges – including violence, lawsuits, online harassment, and police attacks – that could shape the…
Haitian journalist threatened over article about Reuters reporters’ gifts to gang leader
Miami, September 30, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists is disturbed by threats made against journalist Widlore Mérancourt by Haitian gang leader Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier over his article about a Reuters journalist giving Cherizier gifts of balaclavas, alcohol, and cigarettes. “We are very concerned about the threats made against AyiboPost’s editor-in-chief Widlore Mérancourt by the Haitian…