COVID-19

258 results arranged by date

The New York City Housing Authority's John Haynes Holmes Towers are seen on April 4, 2019. CPJ recently spoke with housing reporter Sadef Ali Kully about reporting during the COVID-19 pandemic. (AP/Mark Lennihan)

Covering COVID-19 as a housing reporter in New York City

For Sadef Ali Kully, a housing and land use reporter for the nonprofit news outlet City Limits, meeting with sources in-person was an integral part of covering her beat in New York City. However, with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kully has needed to rethink how to perform the basics of her job.

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Turkey's Deputy Parliament Speaker Levent Gok (center) is seen in the Parliament in Ankara on April 7, 2020. The Turkish parliament is considering an amnesty bill that would release 90,000 prisoners, but not include journalists. (AFP/Adem Altan)

Turkey amnesty bill would release 90,000 prisoners, but no journalists

New York, April 7, 2020 — In response to the Turkish Parliament’s proposed bill that would release 90,000 prisoners to limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus, but which would not free journalists held as political prisoners, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement:

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Police officers are seen in Basra, Iraq, on March 31, 2020. Police recently attacked journalist Mohamed Kader al-Samarrai at COVID-19 checkpoint in Samarra. (Reuters/Essam al-Sudani)

Iraqi security forces beat journalist Mohamed Kader al-Samarrai at COVID-19 checkpoint

On March 31, 2020, two officers of the Iraqi Police Sixth Emergency Regiment assaulted Mohamed Kader al-Samarrai, director of the local broadcaster Al-Maliyah TV, after stopping him at a checkpoint to enforce the country’s COVID-19 curfew, according to a Facebook post by al-Samarrai and reports by the National Union of Journalists in Iraq and the…

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CPJ, 80 media and rights groups urge African heads of state to release jailed journalists

CPJ and 80 media, press freedom, and human rights organizations write to African heads of state to call on their respective governments to release all jailed journalists amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Police officers are seen in Algiers, Algeria, on March 6, 2020. Three newspaper staffers were recently arrested over a report on the coronavirus pandemic in Algeria. (Reuters/Ramzi Boudina)

Three newspaper staffers charged with ‘attack on national unity’ over COVID-19 report in Algeria

On April 1, 2020, officers of Algeria’s National Gendarmerie arrested three employees of the privately owned Essawt El-Akhar daily newspaper and interrogated them about a story the paper published that day about the COVID-19 pandemic, according to news reports and Abdelrahman Saleh, the employees’ lawyer, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app.

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A police cruiser is seen on the outskirts Manama, Bahrain, on March 13, 2020. CPJ joined a letter calling on Bahrain to release all its imprisoned journalists. (AFP/Mazen Mahdi)

CPJ joins letter calling on Bahrain to release all journalists, citing COVID-19

The Committee to Protect Journalists today joined other human rights and free expression organizations in a letter calling on the Bahraini government to release all imprisoned journalists and other political prisoners.

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Slovenian journalist Blaž Zgaga told CPJ he has faced harassment from the government over his COVID-19 reporting. (Tomislav Čuveljak)

Slovenian journalist Blaž Zgaga on facing off against a government fighting COVID-19 coverage

Blaž Zgaga is a freelance Slovenian investigative journalist and a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists who covers national security and defense. In his reporting, he has uncovered corruption and written about arms trafficking in the region.

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Journalist Raihana Maqbool reporting in Kashmir. (Aliya Bashir)

Kashmiri journalist Raihana Maqbool on reporting on COVID-19 amid ongoing restrictions

Journalists in Jammu and Kashmir have spent the past eight months navigating an intense crackdown by Indian authorities in the region, including unprecedented restrictions on communications and the longest internet shutdown in a democracy. Now, they have the added challenge on trying to report on the COVID-19 pandemic. India has instituted a strict 21-day national…

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Police officers are seen in Manila, the Philippines, on March 25, 2020. National police recently filed a criminal complaint on behalf of Cavite City authorities against two journalists for spreading 'false information' about COVID-19. (AFP/Ted Aljibe)

Two reporters charged for spreading ‘false information’ about COVID-19 in the Philippines

Bangkok, April 3, 2020 — Cavite City authorities in the Philippines should withdraw their criminal complaints against journalists Mario Batuigas and Amor Virata, and refrain from threatening journalists covering the COVID-19 pandemic, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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The office of Radio Television Hong Kong is seen in Hong Kong on January 23, 2007. The city's government recently criticized the broadcaster over a question a reporter asked about Taiwan's status in the World Health Organziation. (Reuters/Paul Yeung)

Hong Kong government reprimands RTHK broadcaster over question about Taiwan

Taipei, April 3, 2020 — The Hong Kong government should let Radio Television Hong Kong report freely and without official harassment, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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