Media wars create information vacuum in Ukraine
More than a year after the December 2013 mass attack against journalists at Kiev’s Maidan Square, which coincided with the Ukrainian police’s violent dispersal of protesters rallying against the policies of then-President Viktor Yanukovych, the press in the beleaguered nation continue the battle for survival. The biggest problem remains impunity in attacks against journalists.
Journalists overcome obstacles through crowdfunding and determination
During South Africa’s Boer War, at the turn of the 20th century, a determined news organization relocated reporters, copy editors, and printing presses to the front line to ensure accurate reporting. In the Warsaw Ghetto, during World War II, a literal underground press, established to counter Nazi propaganda, required the nightly movement of cumbersome printing…
Kenyan police assault journalists investigating corruption
Nairobi, April, 20, 2015–Two journalists were beaten by officers from Kenya’s paramilitary police wing, the General Service Unit (GSU), at a cattle ranch in southeastern Kenya on April 18, according to news reports. Nehemiah Okwembah, from the privately owned daily Nation, and Reuben Ogachi, a cameraman for the privately owned station Citizen TV, were covering…
CPJ requests information about alleged detention of two journalists in Egypt
New York, April 17, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists wrote to the Egyptian Ministry of Justice on Thursday requesting information about two journalists who were allegedly arrested on Tuesday while attempting to cover the bombing of two electrical pylons that transmit power to the Media Production City in Cairo.
Journalists assaulted, chased covering protest in Nigeria
Abuja, Nigeria, April 16, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the attacks on journalists covering a government workers’ strike in Nigeria and calls on Nigerian authorities to ensure police launch a thorough and efficient investigation and bring the perpetrators to justice.
One year later: Hamid Mir on the attempt to kill him and what came next
Hamid Mir and I last saw each other in Islamabad in late January at a meeting of the Pakistan Coalition on Media Safety. Mir, a senior anchor for Geo News, seemed as if he was on the road to recovery, but he was obviously still in pain from injuries he sustained during an assassination attempt…
Somali journalist shot by gunmen in Mogadishu
Nairobi, April 14, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the shooting attack on a Somali photographer in Mogadishu and calls on authorities to thoroughly investigate the case and ensure the perpetrators are brought to justice. Farhan Suleiman Dahir works for the state-run Radio Mogadishu, whose journalists have been targeted several times in recent years.
In Iraq, Islamic State exacts heavy toll on journalists and their families
The militant group Islamic State swept through Iraq last summer, taking over city after city and leaving a wave of destruction of a scale only just being discovered. Even now it is difficult to understand how much damage was inflicted, including on the Iraqi journalist community, where rumors of missing or killed journalists are swirling…
Russian blogger beaten and warned to leave Dagestan
New York, April 8, 2015–A Russian blogger is under police guard in hospital after being abducted and attacked by at least three masked men in Derbent, in the southern republic of Dagestan, on Sunday, according to news reports citing his account. Vyacheslav Starodubets was forced into a car and taken to the outskirts of the…
When it comes to Great Firewall attacks, HTTPS is greatest defense
The power of HTTPS to protect has been brought into sharp focus by a series of attacks against software collaboration site GitHub. These attacks consistently failed because of the site’s universal use of HTTPS. Most recently, GitHub reported a blistering series of distributed denial of service attacks in March, which it believes were an attempt…