abducted

Cape Town, South Africa, January 29, 2014–South African authorities should drop charges against a journalist who was roughed up and detained after photographing police officers allegedly involved in bribery, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Ricky Dire, a journalist with the Daily Sun, also received death threats.

Today the Committee to Protect Journalists joins 15 other press freedom and media development organizations calling on the participants of the Syrian peace conference in Geneva to include freedom of the press and expression as “fundamental cornerstones in any viable political settlement.”

CPJ RELEASES ANNUAL REPORT ON KILLED JOURNALISTS New York, December 30, 2013–Syria remained the most deadly place for journalists on the job in 2013, while Iraq and Egypt each saw a spike in fatal violence, the Committee to Protect Journalists found in a new report. At least 70 journalists were killed for their work during…

The conflict in Syria, a spike in Iraqi bloodshed, and political violence in Egypt accounted for the high number of journalists killed on the job in 2013. A CPJ special report by Elana Beiser

CPJ RELEASES ANNUAL PRISON CENSUS New York, December 18, 2013– For the second consecutive year, Turkey was the world’s leading jailer of journalists, followed closely by Iran and China. Together, the three countries accounted for more than half of all journalists imprisoned around the world, the Committee to Protect Journalists found.

For the second consecutive year, Turkey was the world’s leading jailer of journalists, followed closely by Iran and China. The number of journalists in prison globally decreased from a year earlier but remains close to historical highs. A CPJ special report by Elana Beiser

Judith Spiegel, who reports for multiple Dutch outlets in Yemen, and her husband, Boudewijn Berendsen, were released six months after being taken hostage by an unknown group, the Dutch and Yemeni governments said in a joint statement on December 10, 2013.

In an unprecedented step, more than a dozen international news organizations have signed a joint letter to the Syrian armed opposition about the “disturbing rise in the kidnapping of journalists” in Syria, which has led many outlets to reduce their coverage of the conflict out of safety concerns. The organizations urge the Syrian armed opposition…

CPJ’s report, Roots of Impunity, published earlier this year, provides a glimpse of the grim realities that journalists in Pakistan face when they cross red lines. Many journalists are threatened, harassed, and intimidated by a host of actors, including members of Pakistan’s security and intelligence apparatus. Some of these cases get reported, but in many…

New York, December 4, 2013–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release today of a reporter working for Al-Arabiya news channel who, along with two crewmembers, was abducted by Islamist militants 18 months ago.