CPJ Insider: March 2019 edition
Venezuela’s press freedom crisis heats up CPJ’s Central and South America program and Emergencies Response Team have been in overdrive amid an intensifying press crackdown in Venezuela, which reached a new level when the Maduro government briefly detained Univision reporter and anchor Jorge Ramos and his crew on February 26.
Chhattisgarh’s plan for journalist safety law could be template for all India
Every day for two years, freelance journalist Santosh Yadav must walk the 50 or so yards from his home to the Darbha village police station in Bastar, Chhattisgarh, to sign a register. Just one missed day could immediately land him back in prison as he awaits trial on anti-terror charges. A police commander said that…
Philippines’ Maria Ressa detained and released over ‘political’ charge
The Philippine government’s legal harassment of the news website Rappler and Maria Ressa, its founder and executive editor, took an alarming turn Wednesday when officers from the National Bureau of Investigation arrested Ressa at Rappler‘s bureau in Manila and held her overnight over a cyber libel case filed against her by the Justice Department. Ressa’s…
Several journalists say US border agents questioned them about migrant coverage
New York, February 11, 2019–The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by reports that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is harassing journalists or subjecting them to invasive questioning during secondary screening when they cross into the United States.
UAE hired former NSA employees to surveil journalists and human rights activists
CPJ expressed concern that at least four journalists were surveilled under Project Raven, a United Arab Emirates cybersurveillance and hacking operation, according to a Reuters report. CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Sherif Mansour called the involvement of U.S. intelligence officials in the operation “disturbing.” CPJ North America Research Assistant Stephanie Sugars took…
Journalists killed in Libya and Mexico; crackdown on press escalates in Sudan; prominent journalist flees Nicaragua
Freelancer Mohamed Ben Khalifa was killed during clashes south of Tripoli, Libya, on Saturday. Mexican reporter Rafael Murúa Manríquez was found killed in Baja California Sur on Sunday despite being enrolled in a federal protection program for human rights defenders and journalists. On Monday, Sudanese authorities revoked the credentials of at least six journalists working…
A letter from CPJ’s Washington Advocacy Manager
Dear friend of CPJ, Happy New Year from Washington, D.C.! It was only 18 months ago that I joined the Committee to Protect Journalists as its inaugural Washington advocacy manager. My first couple weeks on the job were spent strategizing about how to handle the new political landscape in the United States. In a world…
Severed human head and threat left outside Tamaulipas newspaper office
Mexico City, December 21, 2018–Mexican authorities must immediately take all necessary actions to guarantee the safety of journalists in Ciudad Victoria, the capital of Tamaulipas state, after a severed human head was left outside the offices of a local newspaper, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
This year in press freedom: Murders of journalists nearly double in 2018
CPJ releases its annual report on journalists killed in 2018. Mexican journalists face deadly dangers when covering crime and politics. Lawsuits and economic crisis drive Venezuela’s journalists into exile. CPJ’s annual report found that between January 1 and December 14, 2018, 34 journalists were murdered in reprisal of their work, nearly double the number of…