Coming to Kurdistan
One of the strongest memories I have of meeting President Masoud Barzani is the winding drive up to his mountain-top headquarters in the town of Salahuddin outside Erbil. That was in 2008, when a CPJ delegation secured a pledge from the head of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to “create an atmosphere that is conducive…
Journalist in Bangladesh assaulted in hospital
On May 13, 2014, Shishir Morol, a health correspondent for the Bengali-language daily Prothom Alo, was held for more than two hours and beaten by at least three doctors at a hospital in the capital, Dhaka, according to local reports. At the time of the attack, Morol was investigating the use of allegedly false credentials…
In Ukraine, journalists face violence, abduction
New York, May 12, 2014–Local and international journalists covering the crisis in Ukraine have been assaulted and arbitrarily detained in the past week, according to news reports and a local press freedom organization. At least one was attacked while covering a contested referendum Sunday on autonomy for the east of the country, the reports said.
Am I a traitor?
EDITOR’S NOTE: Hamid Mir, the executive editor of Pakistan’s Geo Television, survived an April 19 assassination attempt, but was badly injured. The shooting came a few weeks after the Pakistani government pledged in a meeting with CPJ to address the insecurity plaguing the country’s journalists. Shortly after the attack, some Pakistani media stated that CPJ…
Rousseff to CPJ: ‘Brazil committed to fighting impunity’
“The federal government is fully committed to continue fighting against impunity in cases of killed journalists,” Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff told a CPJ delegation during a meeting on Tuesday in Brasilia, the country’s political capital. Accepting that deadly violence against the media is a detriment to freedom of the press, Rousseff said her administration will…
Journalists shot, attacked covering clashes in Odessa
New York, May 5, 2014–At least three journalists were shot over the weekend and others assaulted while covering deadly clashes between pro-Russia activists and their opponents in Odessa, southern Ukraine, according to news reports and a local press freedom group. The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Ukrainian authorities to stand by their declared commitment…
Journalists missing, attacked covering crisis in Ukraine
New York, April 29, 2014–At least two journalists who traveled to eastern Ukraine have been reported missing in the past week, while at least four journalists have been attacked, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the targeting of journalists and media outlets in Ukraine and calls on all parties…
Cameroonian journalist’s car destroyed in explosion
New York, April 24, 2014–An investigative journalist in Cameroon told CPJ today that his car had been destroyed in an explosion early this morning. Denis Nkwebo said the car was parked outside his house in the commercial capital of Douala, and that no one was hurt in the explosion. Nkwebo, an editor of the leading private…