Confidential Sources

20 results arranged by date

Two men partially obscured by a reflection in a window are shown talking, one wearing sunglasses and face mask.

Digital and Physical Safety: Protecting Confidential Sources

Protecting confidential sources is a cornerstone of ethical reporting. When journalists have agreed to protect someone’s identity, they should make every effort to do so, especially in circumstances where a source could be arrested or harmed. Maintaining confidentiality has become more challenging due to increasing levels of digital surveillance and monitoring by authorities and the…

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Maldives legislature considers bill that could force journalists to reveal sources

Washington, D.C., October 1, 2021 — Maldives legislators must reject a provision of the proposed Evidence Bill that would allow courts to compel journalists and media outlets to reveal their sources, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The bill, which CPJ reviewed, includes a broad provision allowing courts to order outlets and journalists to…

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UK online safety bill raises censorship concerns and questions on future of encryption

The U.K. government emphasized press freedom this month when it published the draft online safety bill for social media companies, pledging that the bill would protect both “citizen journalism” and “recognized news publishers” from censorship. Vocal segments of the media not only welcomed the legislation, but actively campaigned for it. When Oliver Dowden, secretary of…

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Idaho attorney files subpoena for testimony of reporter Nate Eaton

Washington, D.C., May 11, 2021 — The Committee to Protect Journalists today expressed concern over a subpoena ordering an Idaho reporter to testify in court, and called on the state’s judiciary not to enforce such an order. Yesterday, Nate Eaton, the news director at the local website EastIdahoNews.com, posted on Twitter an image of a…

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Albanian authorities interrogate publisher of Lapsi.al, demand outlet turn over confidential information

Berlin, May 5, 2021 – Albanian authorities should immediately drop their investigation into Lapsi.al and ensure that all outlets can protect their confidential sources, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On April 16, the Special Court Against Corruption and Organized Crime in the capital, Tirana, ordered the independent news website Lapsi.al to hand over…

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A Cameroonian elite Rapid Intervention Battalion member walks along an empty street in the city of Buea in Cameroon's Anglophone southwest region on October 4, 2018. Cameroon’s military detained pidgin news anchor Samuel Wazizi on August 2, 2019, in Buea. (Reuters/Zohra Bensemra)

Cameroon’s military detains pidgin news anchor Samuel Wazizi

New York, August 13, 2019–Cameroonian authorities should immediately release without charge pidgin news anchor Samuel Wazizi, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Police arrested Wazizi, whose legal name is Samuel Ajiekah Abuwe, 11 days ago and handed him over to the military, which has since held him without access to his lawyer or family…

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Moroccan investigative journalist Omar Radi, who at the time worked for the website Le Desk, the website's headquarters in Casablanca, Morocco, on September 18, 2015. Radi and other independent journalists told CPJ about a climate of pervasive surveillance and harassment in the country. (AP Photo/Abdeljalil Bounhar)

Moroccan independent journalists describe climate of pervasive surveillance, harassment

In March 2015, Hicham Mansouri emailed an anti-malware company, suspicious of possible signs that someone was able to access his device remotely, without permission. He remembers exchanging a few messages with the software company, but the correspondence was interrupted after a few days, when around 10 police officers in civilian clothes arrived at his home…

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A woman uses her iPhone in front of the building housing NSO Group on August 28, 2016, in Herzliya, near Tel Aviv, Israel. The company has come under increased scrutiny for the alleged use of its spyware tool, Pegasus, to target journalists. (AFP/Jack Guez)

NSO Group responds to spyware abuse allegations with spin

Entering the terms “NSO Group,” “journalists,” and “spying” into a Google search from a workstation in New York City recently produced a sponsored search result at the top of the page. The NSO Group manufactures some of the world’s most sophisticated and high-profile spyware, and its sponsored link invites readers to a slick website touting…

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A vendor of magazines, newspapers, and calendars sits in an underground walkway in central Kiev, Ukraine, on November 18, 2016. A Ukrainian court granted the prosecutor general access to a news magazine's files and reporter's emails in February 2019. (Reuters/Valentyn Ogirenko)

Ukrainian court grants prosecutor access to newsmagazine’s files, reporter’s emails

Kiev, February 19, 2019–The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned a ruling by the Pechersk District Court of Kiev granting investigators from Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office access to internal documents of independent newsmagazine Novoye Vremya and email conversations of its reporter Ivan Verstiuk in an attempt to discover a source.

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Customers read Italian dailies La Repubblica and La Stampa in Rome on March 3, 2016. Italian police searched a La Repubblica journalist's home and seized electronic devices on September 13, 2018, in Palermo. (AFP/Gabriel Bouys)

Italian police search journalist’s home, seize electronic devices

Berlin, September 19, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned an Italian prosecutor’s order to search the home of Salvo Palazzolo, a journalist for the daily newspaper La Repubblica, and seize the journalist’s electronic devices. On September 13, Italian police in Palermo, Sicily, seized Palazzolo’s mobile phone, tablet computer, and three hard drives during the…

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