International journalists face expulsion, detention in China
Australian journalists Bill Birtles and Mike Smith fled China for Australia after China lifted a travel ban that barred both journalists from leaving the country. Separately, Chinese authorities imposed new restrictions targeting journalists at U.S. news organizations in China. In Belarus, police continued to arrest and obstruct journalists covering protests. Since protests began in August,…
Slovak tycoon acquitted in murder case of Slovak journalist Kuciak and his fiancée
Read and subscribe to The Torch newsletter: CPJ disappointed by verdict in trial for murder of Slovak journalist Ján Kuciak; In Iran, 2020 press freedom awardee sentenced to more than 4 years in jail; Journalist Chin’ono released on bail in Zimbabwe
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In 2023, jailed journalist numbers were near a record high as Israel imprisonments spiked Globally, 320 journalists were imprisoned in connection with their work on December 1, 2023, the second highest recorded since CPJ started recording this data. The previous record was set in 2022, when more than 360 appeared in CPJ’s database. In 2023,…
TikTok ban in India and US could set a risky precedent
India recently banned the social media app TikTok, and President Donald Trump has issued an order saying the U.S. will follow suit should the app remain Chinese-owned. CPJ’s consultant technology editor, Madeline Earp, analyzed how the move could have implications for press freedom, particularly by normalizing bans with far more direct consequences for the news…
CPJ, nearly 400 journalists & civil society members call for release of imprisoned Kashmiri journalist Aasif Sultan
The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 397 writers, journalists, academics, press freedom advocates, and civil society members to urge Prime Minister Modi to immediately release Kashmiri journalist Aasif Sultan, who has been imprisoned for two years.
Hong Kong journalists “tiptoeing under a python in a chandelier”
The impact of Hong Kong’s new security law was felt by journalists this week with the police raid of the Apple Daily newsroom and arrests intended “not just to thwart [the founder Jimmy] Lai and his media group, but to intimidate Hong Kong’s entire community of journalists,” wrote CPJ’s Asia Program Coordinator Steven Butler in…
Bolivian photojournalist David Sapiencia attacked by protesters
Bogotá, August 11, 2020 – Bolivian authorities should quickly and thoroughly investigate the attack on journalist David Sapiencia, identify those responsible, and hold them to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On August 5, about two dozen protesters in the central Bolivian town of Mairana attacked Sapiencia, a freelance photojournalist, according to news…
Beirut’s journalists report on the explosion that tore through their lives and city
Six minutes after the explosion at the Port of Beirut on the evening of August 4, 2020, Natalia Sancha, a correspondent for the Spanish newspaper El Pais, was on her motorcycle, heading to the scene of the blast. Like so many journalists in the city, she was documenting the catastrophe as she was living it. The…
At least 2 journalists die after contracting COVID-19 in prison
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, of which CPJ is a co-founding member, has received more than 600 reports of aggressions against the press during the nationwide Black Lives Matter protests. Last week, CPJ called on all U.S. law enforcement to stop using aggressive tactics against journalists covering protests, including in Portland, where U.S. federal law…
US, UK, Interpol give Ghana phone hacking tools, CPJ investigation finds
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is investigating nearly 500 press freedom violations reported during protests in the U.S. since late May. Incidents include arrests, assaults, attacks with rubber bullets, pepper spray, and teargas, among others. The majority of the abuses were at the hands of police. A new investigation by CPJ’s senior Africa researcher, Jonathan…