Mexican

This week, as he takes office as lead chair of the Open Government Partnership, Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto will reaffirm the commitment of the more than 60 countries that make up this multilateral initiative, which seeks to enhance governance, promote citizen participation, and improve governments’ accountability to citizens.

The apparent back-to-back murders of two American freelance journalists by the same group are unprecedented in CPJ’s history. The beheadings on camera in a two-week period of first James Foley and then Steven Sotloff appear to be an acceleration of a pattern–dating at least to Daniel Pearl’s killing in 2002–of criminal and insurgent groups displaying…

2. The vicious cycle of impunity By Sara Rafsky When the World Cup kicks off in Brazil in June, the government of President Dilma Rousseff will be celebrating the country’s emergence as a global powerhouse. The event, to be staged at sites across the country, will put the nation’s vast and diverse territory on display,…

CPJ’s 2014 Global Impunity Index spotlights countries where journalists are slain and the killers go free IraqUnsolved Murders: 100Population: 32.6 millionRank: 1 SomaliaUnsolved Murders: 26Population: 10.2 millionRank: 2 The PhilippinesUnsolved Murders: 51Population: 96.7 millionRank: 3 Sri LankaUnsolved Murders: 9Population: 20.3 millionRank: 4 SyriaUnsolved Murders: 7Population: 22.4 millionRank: 5 AfghanistanUnsolved Murders: 5Population: 29.8 millionRank: 6 MexicoUnsolved…

New York, March 13, 2014–The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by threats made against Balbina Flores Martínez, Mexico correspondent for the international press freedom organization Reporters Without Borders. On Wednesday, Flores received a series of telephone calls in which she was told that someone had been hired to “harm her,” according to news reports.

Calls for journalists to exercise a sense of responsibility are very often code for censorship. Yet unethical journalism can also imperil the press. By Jean-Paul Marthoz

Coverage of rape can bring journalists swift and unpredictable repercussions, but it can also change attitudes. By Frank Smyth

Politicians say there are no organized crime cartels in the capital’s metropolitan area. Journalists know better, but they are afraid to report it. By Mike O’Connor

The Brazilian government’s concern for the safety of an American journalist stands in contrast to a dismal performance protecting its own reporters. By Carlos Lauría Demonstrators clash with riot policemen during a protest in Rio de Janeiro’s on June 17, 2013, against the billions of dollars spent preparing for soccer’s World Cup and against an…