Attacks on the Press in 2011: Egypt
During the 18-day uprising that led to Hosni Mubarak’s ouster, the government unleashed a systematic campaign to intimidate journalists and obstruct news coverage. Dozens of serious press freedom violations were recorded between January 25 and February 11, as police and government supporters assaulted journalists in the streets. One journalist was killed by sniper fire while…
CPJ, partners note Uganda’s ‘severe restrictions’ on human rights ahead of UN review
The Committee to Protect Journalists joined five other rights organizations in calling on the Ugandan government to enact legislative reform in support of human rights and to end repressive tactics in a report submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council ahead of the country’s January 2027 Universal Periodic Review. The UPR is a peer review mechanism…
CPJ, RSF warn Iran using 83-day blackout to hide press crackdown
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) are warning that the Iranian government is using an ongoing 83-day nationwide internet blackout to hide a severe crackdown on independent media. According to the monitor NetBlocks, the 12-week shutdown is the longest and most severe ever recorded in the country, effectively turning Iran…
Venezuelan journalist details complicated fight for amnesty post-Maduro
After nearly a year in prison, Venezuelan journalist Rory Branker is finally free. But he has yet to liberate himself from what legal experts and press freedom groups describe as trumped-up criminal charges that are hanging over his head. After the U.S. military ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January, Branker was one of more than two dozen journalists to be…
Iran tightens media crackdown with raids, financial pressure
New York, February 9, 2026 —The Committee to Protect Journalists demands that Iranian authorities halt their ongoing attacks and harassment of journalists and media workers and roll back punitive measures used to silence reporting, including raids, equipment seizures, financial pressure, and restrictions on communications. Azadeh Mokhtari, a social affairs editor at the Rokna news website,…
CPJ, 29 others call on UN to act on ‘unprecedented’ rights abuses in Tanzania
Nairobi, December 5, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 29 other human rights organizations in urging member and observer states of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to “take action to prevent further abuses” in Tanzania, in the wake of a brutal government crackdown following October 29 elections. In their letter, the organizations note…
‘Stop filming, or I will shoot’: Ethiopian journalists targeted in Tigray turmoil
Almost three years after Ethiopia’s civil war ended, Tigray remains tense and dangerous for journalists, who have been shot at, detained, raided, and swept up in a local power struggle that could trigger renewed conflict. Ethiopian foreign minister Gedion Timothewos warned the United Nations this month that in the northern state of Tigray — the…
‘It has become extremely difficult for us’: Uncertain future for RFE/RL’s Kazakh service
Radio Azattyq director Torokul Doorov says it is “very difficult” for journalists not to become activists in the face of “unfairness and injustice” in Kazakhstan. “You just want to start screaming,” says Doorov, who joined the Kazakh arm of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in 2014, and the outlet grew to be one of Kazakhstan’s most influential…
How the Taliban’s propaganda empire consumed Afghan media
In four years, the Taliban have annihilated Afghanistan’s independent media sector and supplanted it with their own propaganda empire and sophisticated digital bots that flood social media with pro-Taliban content. CPJ interviewed 10 Afghan journalists, inside and outside the country, who said that independent media, which used to reach millions of people, have largely been…
Kyrgyzstan government recriminalizes libel and insult laws
New York, February 21, 2025 – The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Kyrgyz authorities to reverse amendments to the country’s Code of Offenses, which took effect February 10, that recriminalize libel and insult on the internet and in media. “Kyrgyzstan’s implementation of legislation that will make it easier to fine news outlets for defamation and insult…