Iran

As LGBTQ+ communities celebrate Pride this June, many journalists continue to face an ugly reality: simply reporting on this community can open them up to prosecution, physical attacks, threats, arrest, exile, and even death.  Avijit Roy, a Bangladeshi-born American who blogged about LGBTQ+ rights and free expression, was stabbed to death alongside his wife after…

World Refugee Day draws attention to journalists who have been forced to flee their home countries due to threats, conflict, or repression. While exile is now recognized as a growing reality for journalists worldwide, the experiences of journalists CPJ supported last year reflect the reality that relocation does not necessarily bring safety. Increasingly, journalists in…

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 26 other organizations in calling on Gulf states to end their attacks on the free flow of information. The Iran war has sparked a sweeping new crackdown across the Gulf, as governments move to control what their populations can see, say, and share about the attacks unfolding in their…

Washington, D.C., May 12, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists demands that the United States Justice Department immediately withdraw grand jury subpoenas targeting reporters at The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) in connection with their reporting on the Iran war. CNN reported that President Donald Trump ordered acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to submit the subpoenas using a sticky…

Washington, D.C., April 28, 2026 — The Committee to Protect Journalists is appalled by the 10-year prison sentence handed down to Bahraini photographer Sayed Baqer Al-Kamel after reportedly posting a video of the aftermath of an Iranian attack on the Gulf nation.  The photojournalist was convicted on charges including allegedly promoting content deemed supportive of…

The Defense Department oversees the country’s armed forces and commands a nearly $1 trillion budget in 2026. A departure from longstanding norms and Constitutionally guaranteed media access at the Pentagon carries significant implications for press freedom in the United States as well as for public understanding of the impact of U.S. military spending and actions. Here are five things you need to…

On Monday, April 13, 2026, the Committee to Protect Journalists, together with its amicus partners the Foreign Press Association in Israel, the Union of Journalists in Israel (UJI) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF), filed an emergency motion to the Israeli Supreme Court asking the justices to expedite a decision on allowing the international media to…

New York, April 15, 2026 — The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) today published a petition calling on Kuwaiti authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Kuwaiti-American journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin.  Shihab-Eldin, an award-winning journalist who previously contributed to The New York Times, PBS, and Al Jazeera English, has not posted online or been seen in public…

Washington, D.C., April 13, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Kuwaiti authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Kuwaiti-American journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin. Shihab-Eldin, an award-winning journalist who posts prolifically on social media, has not posted online or been seen in public in Kuwait – where he was visiting family – since March 2. It is…

New York, April 8, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns in the strongest terms the killing of at least three journalists in Lebanon and Gaza by Israel in one day, at least one of which was in a targeted attack. This pattern of attacks underscores a worsening climate of impunity and a blatant disregard for…