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…
In Mexico, ‘narcopolitics’ is a deadly mix for journalists covering crime and politics
It was 3 p.m. on January 13 when Carlos Domínguez Rodríguez stopped at a traffic light in Nuevo Laredo, in the northern Mexican state of Tamaulipas. Two men approached the car of the well-known newspaper columnist, opened the driver’s door, and stabbed him more than 20 times in front of his family.
Journalists fleeing threats at home trapped in ICE detention over US asylum seeker policy
When Cuban police escorted Serafín Morán Santiago on to a plane to Guyana in 2016, they warned the journalist he could be jailed for 15 years if he tried to return. Authorities there had already detained and tortured him for his reporting. But when he was attacked in Guyana and then threatened in Mexico, Morán…
Major setback for press freedom in Canada
Canada’s Supreme Court upholds a lower court ruling that Vice Media reporter Ben Makuch should hand over his communications with a source. CPJ joins eight other organizations in condemning the lack of justice in the murder of Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, one year after three arrests were made in connection with the case….
Seeking #JusticeForJamal because journalism matters
CPJ, RSF call on Philippines to end its persecution of Rappler and Maria Ressa, as prosecutors file five separate tax cases. Unknown gunmen assassinate prominent Syrian radio host Raed Fares and photographer Hamoud al-Jnaid. CPJ is awarded the 2018 Chatham House prize in London. Global press freedom updates Philippines piles on legal threats against critical…
How the Saudis may have spied on Jamal Khashoggi
Omar Abdulaziz, a 27-year-old Saudi Arabian dissident, can still remember the time Jamal Khashoggi, the storied Saudi journalist, unfollowed him on Twitter. It was in 2015, and Khashoggi had been tapped to head a new TV network called Al-Arab, a partnership between a member of the royal family and Bloomberg. Abdulaziz started haranguing Khashoggi online,…
CPJ Safety Advisory: Covering the migrant caravan
UPDATED: This safety advisory was updated on February 15, 2019. In October 2018, thousands of migrants travelled as part of a caravan that departed San Pedro Sula in Honduras for the U.S. As the caravan attempted to cross Mexico, the risk increased for any journalists accompanying it.