Vigils across Mexico: Three journalists killed in two weeks
After the disturbing killings of three Mexican journalists in less than two weeks, journalists in nearly 40 locations around Mexico took to the streets Tuesday night to demand the federal government do more to ensure security for reporters under threat and to end impunity in cases of murdered journalists. The three Mexican journalists killed this…
Journalists at the Beijing Winter Olympics may test China’s tolerance for critical coverage
Can China and the International Olympic Committee maintain a “bubble” of total press freedom inside China’s vast sea of repression? That’s the question facing thousands of journalists as they arrive in the coming weeks to cover the Beijing Winter Olympics, which kick off on February 4. (CPJ’s safety advisory for those attending addresses coronavirus restrictions…
The most-read press freedom stories of 2021
2021 began with protestors threatening journalists covering the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. The news at the end of the year isn’t much brighter, with Ethiopia using its emergency law to ramp up arrests of journalists and the first documented death of a journalist in custody in Myanmar since the country’s February coup….
CPJ’s Steven Butler: China’s sentencing of Jimmy Lai over Tiananmen Square vigil is ‘despicable’
Taipei, December 13, 2021 — In response to a Hong Kong court’s decision today to sentence Jimmy Lai, founder of the Next Digital media company and the pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, to 13 months imprisonment over his alleged connection to a 2020 vigil marking the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, the Committee to Protect…
‘A disturbing sign for press freedom’: A record 293 journalists imprisoned worldwide, the worst in 30 years
There are a record 293 journalists jailed worldwide for doing their job, according to CPJ’s 2021 prison census, the worst number CPJ has recorded since we began keeping track in 1992. Meanwhile, killings of journalists also continue to persist, with 24 documented by CPJ so far this year. The reasons for the relentless climb in…
Jimmy Lai Chee-ying
Hong Kong media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, 76, the founder of the now-shuttered pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily and a British citizen, has been detained since December 2020. Lai is currently serving a prison sentence of five years and nine months on fraud charges related to a lease dispute and is on a separate trial under…
Wan Yiu-sing
Hong Kong police arrested Wan Yiu-sing, who hosted a show on the internet radio channel D100 under the name “Giggs,” on February 7, 2021. He is being held in detention while on trial for alleged sedition and money laundering. Wan is an internet radio host and commentator who covers political issues in mainland China and…
Chan Pui-man
Hong Kong journalist Chan Pui-man is awaiting sentencing for conspiring to collude with foreign powers after pleading guilty in return for clemency on another charge. Police arrested Chan, the pro-democracy Apple Daily’s associate publisher, several times in 2021, and she has been held since July 21, 2021. Apple Daily, a subsidiary of the media company…
Ryan Law Wai-kwong
Hong Kong journalist Ryan Law Wai-kwong is awaiting sentencing for conspiring to collude with foreign powers after pleading guilty in return for clemency on another charge. Police arrested Law, editor-in-chief of the pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, on June 16, 2021. Apple Daily, a subsidiary of the media company Next Digital Limited, was published from 1995…
Yeung Ching-kee
Hong Kong columnist Yeung Ching-kee is awaiting sentencing for conspiring to collude with foreign powers after pleading guilty in return for clemency on another charge. Hong Kong police arrested Yeung, the pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily’s former lead editorial writer, several times in 2021, and he has been in detention since July 21, 2021. Yeung wrote…