Press freedom groups ask UNESCO to reject Obiang money
Dear Director-General Bokova: We, the undersigned freedom of expression organizations, join with the Committee to Protect Journalists to express our grave concern regarding the $3 million donation by Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang for the administration of an international prize in life sciences. As a leading institution that advocates “empowering people through the free flow of ideas and by access to information and knowledge,” UNESCO should not accept funds from one of Africa’s worst violators of press freedom.
CPJ Impact
News from the Committee to Protect Journalists, May 2010 Two Victories for Press Freedom Online Danny O’Brien, CPJ’s new Internet Advocacy Coordinator, joined us with a brief to defend online journalists and the Internet itself as a medium for global press freedom. In his first month, he helped reform a weak law in Brazil and…
In Sri Lanka, no peace dividend for press
The end of Sri Lanka’s war with Tamil rebels has not eased repression of independent media. Journalists still face violence, harassment, and detention. Will President Rajapaksa use his victories on the battlefield and in the polling booth to reunite the nation and restore free expression? A CPJ Special Report by Bob Dietz and Robert Mahoney
Free speech in India: Between the bullet, baton, and gavel
Freedom of speech and expression in India is balanced precariously between the ever-present threat of direct, physical attacks from both security forces and social vigilante groups on the one hand, and the reassurance of protection from higher judicial authorities on the other. But the scales seem tipped in favor of the former.
Honoring local journalists on World Press Freedom Day
Today, May 3, is World Press Freedom Day. But on this day, this year, I am not thinking about the dangers for the many journalists whose bylines I’ve come to associate with places like Mogadishu or Manila, Kabul or Islamabad. It’s not because I don’t have immense respect for them and for the risks they…
In Afghanistan, at least 3 journalists still held captive
On Wednesday, I posted an item about the dangers to journalists in Pakistan, reminding readers that at least two reporters–Canadian freelancer Beverley Giesbrecht, who goes by the name Khadija Abdul Qahaar, and British journalist Asad Qureshi–are being held captive somewhere along the border with Afghanistan. I later received a few e-mail messages reminding me that…
Ten Journalist Murder Cases to Solve
CPJ challenges authorities in 10 nations to bring justice and reverse culture of impunity New York, April 29, 2010—In the Philippines, political clan members slaughter more than 30 news media workers and dump their bodies in mass graves. In Sri Lanka, a prominent editor who has criticized authorities is so sure of retaliation that he…
Impunity Summit: Solidarity in fighting journalist murders
Every day at CPJ, we count numbers: 18 journalists killed in Russia since 2000, 32 journalists and media workers slaughtered in the Maguindanao massacre, 88 journalists murdered over the last 10 years in Iraq. But on Tuesday night at CPJ’s Impunity Summit at Columbia University, CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon clarified why we were gathered:…
Getting Away With Murder
CPJ’s 2010 Impunity Index spotlights countrieswhere journalists are slain and killers go free New York, April 20, 2010—Deadly, unpunished violence against the press has soared in the Philippines and Somalia, the Committee to Protect Journalists has found in its newly updated Impunity Index, a list of countries where journalists are killed regularly and governments fail…