Jailed journalist numbers near record high in 2023
Israel has emerged as one of the world’s leading jailers of journalists following the October 7 start of the Israel-Gaza war, CPJ’s 2023 prison census has found. Israel ranked sixth—tied with Iran—behind China, Myanmar, Belarus, Russia, and Vietnam, respectively. Overall, CPJ documented 320 journalists behind bars for their work as of the census date December…
Israel among top jailers of journalists worldwide, as imprisonments globally continue unabated, CPJ finds
New York, January 18, 2024—Amidst a months-long war, Israel emerged for the first time as one of the world’s leading jailers of journalists, with 17 recorded behind bars as of December 1, 2023, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists’ (CPJ) annual prison census. This is the highest number of Palestinian journalists in detention since…
Palestinian journalists are being imprisoned by Israel in record numbers
In October, when the Israel-Gaza war began, Alaa al-Rimawi snapped into action, covering developments on J-Media, the West Bank-based news agency he directs, as well as on TikTok and Facebook. But his conflict coverage would be short-lived. Less than two weeks after the start of the war, Israel banned J-Media on security grounds and quickly…
2023 prison census: Jailed journalist numbers near record high; Israel imprisonments spike
By Arlene Getz/CPJ Editorial Director Worst Jailers | New Developments | Regional Repression | Census Methodology Israel emerged as one of the world’s leading jailers of journalists following the October 7 start of the Israel-Gaza war, the Committee to Protect Journalists’ 2023 prison census has found. Israel ranked sixth – tied with Iran – behind…
CPJ and partners call on President Biden to protect journalists in the Israel-Gaza war
This week, CPJ repeats our call: The continuous killings of journalists and their family members by Israeli army fire must end: journalists are civilians, not targets. On Sunday, an Israeli drone strike killed Al-Jazeera journalist Hamza Al Dahdouh—who was the son of Al-Jazeera Gaza bureau chief Wael Al Dahdouh and the fifth member of his…
CPJ urges Bangladesh authorities, political parties to ensure media freedom ahead of election
New York, January 5, 2024 —The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Bangladesh authorities and all political parties to respect the right of journalists to report freely and safely ahead of Sunday’s upcoming national election. CPJ has documented a number of attacks on journalists in the run-up to the January 7 polls, and on Thursday…
Year in review: The most-read press freedom stories of 2023
As we approach the end of a truly volatile year, CPJ has documented physical attacks, imprisonment, and legal harassment against the press accelerate relentlessly in frequency and severity, and we have seen more journalists than ever fleeing into exile. Journalists face increasingly hostile environments in conflict zones, as more journalists have been killed in the…
Media crackdown escalating in Azerbaijan
The December 13 detention of investigative journalist Hafiz Babali is the latest in a crackdown against the press in Azerbaijan. He is at least the seventh member of the press arrested in retaliation for his work in Azerbaijan in the past month. Azerbaijani authorities have ordered Babali along with four journalists of the anti-corruption news…
CPJ calls for accountability in Israeli strike on journalists
Reports released today by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse (AFP) into the October 13 strike on journalists in southern Lebanon found that the attack, which killed Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah and injured six others, was likely a deliberate assault by the Israel Defense Forces on civilians, which would constitute a war…