internet blackouts

Diaa Al-Kahlout, the veteran Gaza bureau chief for the Qatari-funded London-based newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, had been covering the Israel-Gaza war for two months when he became part of the news. On December 7, Al-Kahlout was detained along with members of his family by Israeli forces in a mass arrest in Beit Lahya in northern Gaza….

For the last six weeks, Sudan has been almost totally cut off from the world. Since early February, there has been an internet and telecommunications blackout in the country, where a war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed more than 13,000, displaced millions, and threatens to cause widespread…

New York, February 1, 2024—The ongoing Israel-Gaza war has had an unprecedented and devastating effect on journalists. By late January 2024, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) had documented the killing of more than 80 journalists and media workers in the conflict, the majority of them Palestinian reporters trapped inside Gaza. CPJ’s reporting also points…

As we approach the end of a truly volatile year, CPJ has documented physical attacks, imprisonment, and legal harassment against the press accelerate relentlessly in frequency and severity, and we have seen more journalists than ever fleeing into exile. Journalists face increasingly hostile environments in conflict zones, as more journalists have been killed in the…

New York, December 21, 2023 – Since October 7, at least 68 journalists have lost their lives in the Israel-Gaza war. In more than three decades of documenting journalist fatalities, the Committee to Protect Journalists has never seen violence of such intensity. This devastating toll and related anti-press aggression and restrictions severely impact the ability…

Update: Communications in Gaza were partially restored over the weekend after a limited amount of fuel was allowed into the region to power generators. Journalists are still reporting to CPJ that they are having difficulty with communications. New York, November 16, 2023—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is highly alarmed by widespread reports of a communications blackout…

In January, Ukrainian photojournalist Anton Skyba rushed to the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine to report on a town near the front line, Chasiv Yar. He came prepared. In a phone call with CPJ, he ticked off the items in his suitcase: personal protective equipment, including a helmet and an individual first aid kit with a chest patch “for…

On Wednesday, CPJ welcomed the European Commission’s “decisive” move to pass an initiative addressing the abuse of SLAPPs (strategic lawsuits against public participation). CPJ has long advocated for the EU to address SLAPPs, which are abusive lawsuits filed by powerful officials, businesspeople, or corporations against individuals, including critical journalists or news outlets, to restrict or…

As world leaders scramble to stave off a Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ukraine’s press corps also prepare for possible war. Journalists in the country spoke to CPJ about the current dangers they face, including risk of arrests and kidnapping while covering Donbass and Crimea, and their fears of communication blackouts and internet shutdowns if tensions…

In Mexico, the killing of camera operator and video editor Roberto Toledo in Zitácuaro, a town 80 miles west of Mexico City, marks the fourth media worker killed in the country in less than a month in 2022. CPJ Latin America and the Caribbean Program Coordinator Natalie Southwick discussed the climate for journalists in Mexico…