Iran

The Global Network Initiative, a coalition of nongovernmental organizations of which CPJ is a member, issued a statement yesterday calling on governments to refrain from shutting down internet access amid the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For journalists behind bars, the coronavirus pandemic has now become a matter of life and death. Imprisoned journalists have no control over their surroundings, cannot choose to isolate, and are often denied necessary medical care. Recognizing the urgency of this situation, more than 175 partner organizations have joined CPJ’s #FreeThePress campaign calling for the immediate…

Nadesapillai Vithyatharan is a rare survivor, one of the few journalists abducted during Sri Lanka’s civil war who lives to tell the story.

As the global tally of coronavirus cases continues to rise, CPJ Deputy Executive Director Robert Mahoney published a piece in Al Jazeera highlighting why it is so crucial for journalists to be protected during the pandemic. A new blog by CPJ Advocacy Director Courtney Radsch highlights a range of additional concerns for freelance journalists around…

Attacks on press credibility endanger US democracy and global press freedom The Trump administration has stepped up prosecutions of news sources, interfered in the business of media owners, harassed journalists crossing U.S. borders, and empowered foreign leaders to restrict their own media. But Trump’s most effective ploy has been to destroy the credibility of the…

Across the Middle East this past month, printing presses have ground to a halt after governments in Iraq, Yemen, Oman, Morocco, Jordan, and Iran suspended the printing and distribution of newspapers, citing COVID-19 fears despite a lack of evidence that it can be transmitted via newsprint. As part of a series of Q&As with journalists…

In early February, only eight weeks ago but in a parallel universe that no longer exists, I invited Billie Sweeney, a senior staff editor at The New York Times, to tour the new CPJ office and visit with old friends. For nine years, from 2004 to 2013, Billie worked as CPJ’s editorial director, overseeing all…

New York, April 3, 2020 — Iraqi authorities should immediately reinstate the license of the Reuters news agency, and allow all media outlets to cover the COVID-19 pandemic freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

CPJ Europe Correspondent Attila Mong spoke with Stefania Battistini, a reporter for Italian public broadcaster RAI, about her experience covering the coronavirus outbreak in northern Italy, one of the hardest-hit regions in the world. Battistini compared the experience to reporting in a warzone. “The enemy is everywhere and you don’t know how to defend yourself,”…