Defamation suit in Thailand restricts BBC reporter’s freedom of movement
Bangkok, February 28, 2017–A court in Thailand has seized the passport of BBC reporter Jonathan Head in response to a criminal defamation suit filed by a Thai lawyer over a news report on alleged fraud committed on the tourist island of Phuket. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the restrictions on the reporter’s freedom of…
Reporters barred from U.S. press secretary briefing
New York, February 24, 2017–The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by the decision today to bar nine news outlets from an informal briefing known as “a gaggle” by President Donald Trump’s White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer. Separately, at the Conservative Party Action Conference in Maryland today, Trump said that journalists should not be…
BBC journalist questioned by US border agents, devices searched
New York, February 1, 2017–Customs and Border Protection officers should respect the rights of journalists to protect confidential information when subjecting international reporters to screening on their arrival to the U.S., the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of November 27
Wire reporter releasedPolice in southeastern Mardin province today released Fethi Balaman, the leftist daily newspaper Evrensel reported. Police on November 29 detained the former reporter for the pro-Kurdish Dicle News Agency, which the government on October 31 ordered closed by emergency decree. [December 1, 2016]
Chinese police detain, assault Hong Kong journalists for covering protest
New York, September 15, 2016 – Chinese authorities should launch a credible, independent investigation into allegations police assaulted journalists and allow reporters to do their work, including covering protests, without restriction, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Police in China’s southern Guangdong province last night assaulted and detained five journalists from Hong Kong-based news…
BBC censored during Obama’s visit to Vietnam
Bangkok, May 23, 2016 – Authorities in Vietnam ordered a British Broadcasting Corporation team to stop reporting on U.S. President Barack Obama’s three-day visit to the country, the BBC reported today. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the censorship and called on Vietnam to stop harassing journalists.
Hackers, lawmaker put reporters at risk in Ukraine
New York, May 11, 2016 — The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned the publication of the personal details of thousands of journalists and media workers who have reported from eastern Ukraine. CPJ also denounced a member of the Ukrainian parliament’s praise for that action.
From High Profile to Exile
Heba Alshibani did not set out to become a journalist. She had expected to become an academic, as many members of her Libyan family had before the February 2011 uprising that led to the overthrow of Muammar Qaddafi. But when the violence did not abate after Qaddafi’s overthrow, Alshibani witnessed events that she felt compelled…