Attacks on the Press
Highly publicized murders of journalists heighten awareness of the grave dangers that reporters and photographers face around the world. Less widely known are the myriad other risks to journalists, including imprisonment, cyberattacks, harassment, frivolous lawsuits, and censorship. These threats exist to varying degrees in war zones, politically volatile regions, and even stable countries, and they…
Indian businesses exert financial muscle to control press
In the late summer of 2014, Indian freelance journalist Keya Acharya found herself embroiled in her own version of the War of the Roses. That August, Acharya was forced to respond to a nine-page legal notice demanding that she pay a staggering 1 billion rupees ($16.3 million) to a company whose owner was upset about…
Attacks on the Press: Journalists caught between terrorists and governments
CPJ releases annual assessment of press freedom worldwide New York, April 27, 2015–Terrorist groups and the governments who purport to fight them have made recent years the most dangerous period to be a journalist, the Committee to Protect Journalists found in its annual global assessment of press freedom, Attacks on the Press, released today. Some…
Reporters covering Nicaragua waterway project obstructed by lack of information
When Nicaragua began preliminary work on an interoceanic waterway designed to handle ships too big for the Panama Canal, some of the foreign correspondents who had flown in to cover the December groundbreaking were left high and dry.
In China, mainstream media as well as dissidents under increasing pressure
In 2014, a record number of journalists imprisoned in China was documented by the Committee to Protect Journalists. The 44 in prison this year is an increase from 32 in 2013, and is the largest figure for China since CPJ began tracking imprisoned journalists in 1990. In recent years, the generally rising numbers for China…
Taiwan journalists feel pressure as elections approach
Political tensions are rising in Taiwan ahead of local and municipal elections due at the end of November. The vote is expected to test the popularity of the ruling Kuomintang Party (KMT), which advocates greater integration with China and which earlier this year sparked protests when it tried to pass a new economic cooperation deal…
News from the Committee to Protect Journalists, October 2014
Turkish government makes commitments to CPJ In an unprecedented meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and other officials in early October, a joint delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists and the International Press Institute raised concerns about the climate for press freedom in Turkey, including the imprisonment of journalists and online restrictions. In…
China releases journalists from prison
As in past years, China in 2014 arrested some journalists and activists in the run-up to the anniversary of the massacre of protesters in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989. This year, journalists were also arrested in possible connection to an ongoing police probe into prominent human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang and for reporting on…
CPJ concerned by new restrictions on journalists in China
New York, June 18, 2014–China’s State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television issued a circular today that, if fully implemented, will curtail Chinese journalists’ ability to report. News of the directive came via the official state news agency, Xinhua.