#EndImpunity: Maltese court sentences hitmen to 40 years each for role in assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia
A Maltese court sentenced brothers Alfred and George Degiorgio to 40 years each on October 14, following their guilty plea for their role as hitmen in the assassination of Malta’s leading investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017. Representatives from CPJ, Article 19 Europe, the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom, the European Federation…
Zero-click surveillance and press freedom: When spyware turns phones into weapons
It’s The Torch’s fourth anniversary! Sign up here to get the newsletter in your inbox. CPJ released a new report Thursday, “Zero-click Spyware: Enemy of the press,” about how zero-click surveillance threatens reporters, sources, and global press freedom. The report explains the insidious nature of spyware, its existential threat to journalists, and how it has…
New Report: Spyware poses an existential crisis for journalism and threatens press freedom around the world
New York, October 13, 2022 — The development of high-tech “zero-click” spyware – the kind that takes over phones without a user’s knowledge – has had a chilling impact on press freedom, finds a new special report released today by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The report, Zero-Click Spyware: Enemy of the Press, found the mere threat…
Special report: When spyware turns phones into weapons
How zero-click surveillance threatens reporters, sources, and global press freedom By Fred Guterl Published October 13, 2022 Aida Alami has always been wary of surveillance. As a journalist from Morocco, a state with a track record of intercepting phone calls and messages of political rivals, activists, and journalists, she habitually took precautions to protect her…
MEDIA ADVISORY: CPJ to publish comprehensive report on the threat to journalism posed by zero-click spyware
New York — On Thursday, October 13 the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) will publish a report on the global impact of malicious spyware on journalism. Coming one year after the Pegasus Papers first shed light on the scale and scope of how one company’s software was weaponized by government officials to target journalists, the…
CPJ Insider: August 2022 edition
CPJ continues to demand Biden administration hold those responsible for journalist killings to account President Biden’s recent Middle East trip was a key opportunity for his administration to support the cause of press freedom. Before and during the trip, CPJ repeatedly urged the administration not to normalize journalist killings and to demand accountability for the…
Shireen Abu Akleh’s family, CPJ, U.S. lawmakers call on Biden administration to investigate journalist’s killing
On Thursday, CPJ joined the family of slain Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and U.S. lawmakers for a press conference to call for an independent, U.S.-led investigation into her killing. Also this week, CPJ called on U.S. officials to act after Blinken met with Abu Akleh’s family. “Today, we remind President Biden of his…
‘Permanent fear’: Togolese journalists on their lives 1 year after Pegasus Project revelations
One year after news broke about a list of over 50,000 phone numbers allegedly selected for surveillance with Pegasus spyware, journalists around the world continue to live and work with the fear that their phones can be used to track their conversations and penetrate all the personal and professional data stored on their devices. The…
Two more journalist deaths in Ukraine
Seven journalists have been killed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February. Most recently, Lithuanian documentarian Mantas Kvedaravičius was killed “with a camera in his hand” trying to leave Mariupol on April 2, and police disclosed that Ukrainian journalist Maks Levin, who had been missing since mid-March, was found dead on April…
At least 2 Jordanian journalists targeted by Pegasus spyware
Beirut, April 6, 2022 – Jordanian authorities should conduct a swift and thorough investigation into allegations that two journalists were targeted with Pegasus spyware, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. Throughout 2021, Suhair Jaradat, a freelance columnist for media outlets including the London-based Arabic news website Today’s Opinion, was repeatedly targeted by the spyware,…