News from the Committee to Protect Journalists, February 2015
First step toward better safety for freelancers News agencies, press freedom organizations, and advocacy groups came together this month to address mounting concerns over the hiring and safety of freelance journalists. While dangers to freelancers have always been present, last year international journalists made up nearly a quarter of journalists killed, about double the proportion…
New standards aim to protect freelancers at risk
Press freedom groups, journalists, and news organizations codify global guidelines New York, February 12, 2015–A global network of freelance journalists, news media companies, advocacy organizations, and journalist safety groups today released a set of guidelines for freelance journalists working dangerous assignments and news organizations making such assignments. The guidelines represent unprecedented collaboration aimed at protecting…
The News We Could Lose: New Threats to Journalism and Press Freedom
In conflict and crisis, journalists put themselves in peril to bring news to the world. With journalists being killed and imprisoned in record numbers, the Newseum presents a special program examining these threats and the rise of new strategies by terrorists and governments to suppress information.
CPJ calls on Japan to explore all options for journalist held in Syria
New York, January 22, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by a video released on Tuesday by the Islamic State militant group in which the group said it would kill Japanese freelance journalist Kenji Goto and another Japanese citizen, Haruna Yukawa, if it did not receive a US$200 million ransom within three days.
Classifying media and encryption as a threat is danger to press freedom
The U.K. prides itself on its commitment to free expression, but the latest revelations of surveillance of journalists and calls by Britain’s Prime Minister, David Cameron, to ban secure messaging belie the country’s drift toward a more restrictive environment for the press. The revelations further underscore the threat surveillance by Western democracies poses to journalism,…
Slideshow: Journalists killed in 2014
In 2014, at least 60 journalists and 11 media workers were killed in relation to their work, according to CPJ research. Local and international journalists died covering conflicts, including in Syria, Iraq, and Ukraine, while many others were murdered reporting on corruption and organized crime in their own countries. Here, CPJ remembers some of the…
In Syria, fewer journalist deaths but danger has never been greater
For the third year in a row, Syria ranks as the deadliest country in the world for the press, research by the Committee to Protect Journalists shows. At first glance, the research offers good news: less journalists were killed, imprisoned and kidnapped this year in Syria than in 2013. A deeper look at the numbers…
Freelancer Luke Somers killed in hostage rescue attempt in Yemen
New York, December 6, 2014–Luke Somers, an American freelance journalist held hostage by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, was killed along with fellow hostage Pierre Korkie, a South African teacher, during a failed rescue attempt by U.S. special forces on Saturday morning in Yemen, according to U.S. officials and news reports.
Four journalists honored for commitment to press freedom
New Initiatives Fund set up to help combat ‘war on journalists’ New York, November 26, 2014–Four journalists from Burma, Iran, Russia, and South Africa were honored Tuesday night at the Committee to Protect Journalists’ 24th annual International Press Freedom Awards for their work in defiance of imprisonment, repression, and censorship.