Preparing for the Worst
It’s a calm day in a Ugandan village. Women gather on plastic chairs, shaded from the afternoon sun. I’m here with a handful of journalists on a reporting trip sponsored by the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF). The village women welcome us and begin to tell us about their lives. Then something happens. A man…
The Sadness of May the 25th
To rewrite one’s story, when it is so painful, feels like a kind of suicide. Psychologists would say that is part of a grieving process, helping close nefarious chapters in life. We, the victims of sexual violence, are often told that. But I think it would be more helpful to the goal of moving forward…
CPJ condemns murder of Bangladeshi LGBT journalist
New York, April 25, 2016–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the murder today of Bangladeshi journalist Xulhaz Mannan. The senior editor at gay rights magazine Roopbaan, who also worked at the U.S. Agency for International Development, was stabbed to death at his home in Dhaka alongside a friend, according to reports. A third person, described…
Kyrgyzstan must free jailed journalist Azimjon Askarov, UN committee says
In a milestone decision announced today in Geneva, the U.N. Human Rights Committee called on Kyrgyzstan to immediately release Azimjon Askarov, a journalist sentenced to life in prison in September 2010. The U.N. body issued its decision after reviewing a complaint filed in November 2012 by Askarov’s lawyer, Nurbek Toktakunov, and a team of experts…
‘Erdoğan is killing journalism,’ says Today’s Zaman editor forced out after takeover
Since the Turkish daily Zaman and its English-language sister publication Today’s Zaman were taken over by court-appointed trustees last month, over accusations of terrorist propaganda, the papers’ journalists have witnessed riot police fill their newsrooms, the arrests of colleagues, and the loss, through resignations and dismissals, of fellow journalists.
Brazilian radio reporter survives shooting
São Paulo, March 31, 2016–Brazilian radio journalist Jair Pereira Teixeira, who reported on crime and corruption in Forquilha, a city in northeastern Ceará state, survived after being shot on Sunday, according to news reports. Police arrested two suspected attackers Monday.
Footage shows journalist being punched outside corruption court in Uganda
The broadcast journalist Judith Naluggwa, who works for the state-owned station Bukedde Television, was attacked outside a Ugandan court on March 23, 2016 while reporting on a case of a minister at the Anti-Corruption Court in Kampala, according to the local press freedom group Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda.
Cuban blogger jailed for five days after trying to cover protest
An independent Cuban blogger and activist was held in police custody for five days after attempting to cover a protest by the prominent dissident group, Ladies in White, according to press reports. Lázaro Yuri Valle Roca told CPJ he was apprehended by a group of men in the Miramar neighborhood of Havana, on March 20,…
AFP and Le Monde reporters beaten, have passports taken during Congolese elections
New York, March 24, 2016–Three international journalists who were covering the elections in the Republic of Congo were punched and had their passports and equipment seized Wednesday by a group of four men who identified themselves as police, according to reports.