In Iraqi Kurdistan, journalists are victim of political tension
Mission journal: Journalists in Iraqi Kurdistan are under pressure from authorities in the autonomous northern Iraqi region, with news outlets shuttered and critical reporters arrested. With government formation talks underway, CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa representative Ignacio Miguel Delgado travels to Erbil, Sulaymaniyah and Duhok to hear from local journalists on how the partisan…
Bolsonaro is making Brazilian journalists’ jobs more difficult
First as a candidate and now in his first months as president, Jair Bolsonaro has made his disdain for the media crystal clear. Ministers, supporters, and his family members have followed his lead by no longer offering interviews, attacking and blocking critical reporters on social media, and calling them out as “fake news.”
CPJ joins calls to end social media block in Chad
The Committee to Protect Journalists this week joined at least 79 rights organizations to urge African Union and United Nations experts to take action to end the government of Chad’s nearly year-long block on social media platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, and WhatsApp. The letters, addressed respectively to the African Union Special Rapporteur on Freedom of…
Q&A: Rodney Sieh on how Liberia’s press is faring under Weah presidency
Rodney Sieh, editor-in-chief and publisher of Liberian investigative outlet FrontPageAfrica, knows first-hand the harassment and risks critical journalists in his country face. In 2013, CPJ documented how he was sentenced to prison over unpaid fines in a criminal defamation case.
In Mexico, ‘narcopolitics’ is a deadly mix for journalists covering crime and politics
It was 3 p.m. on January 13 when Carlos Domínguez Rodríguez stopped at a traffic light in Nuevo Laredo, in the northern Mexican state of Tamaulipas. Two men approached the car of the well-known newspaper columnist, opened the driver’s door, and stabbed him more than 20 times in front of his family.
Two Jordanian journalists jailed for 2 days for publication of photomontage
An Amman prosecutor on December 10, 2018, ordered the arrest of Mohammad al-Wakeel, the publisher and editor-in-chief of the news website Al-Wakeel News, and intern editor Ghadir al-Rabihat on charges of inciting sectarian strife after a complaint was filed over an altered image of Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” on the site’s Facebook account,…
Libyan authorities charge journalist with defamation, publishing state secrets
New York, November 8, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on authorities in the Libyan city of Ajilat to end their persecution of freelance journalist Mukhtar al-Halak, who is due in court on November 12 on charges of criminal defamation and publishing state security secrets.
Online smear campaign targets freelance reporter in Nicaragua
New York, September 25, 2018–Nicaraguan authorities should investigate a targeted online harassment campaign against freelance journalist Carl David Goette-Luciak, find those responsible, and ensure his safety, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Vietnam jails journalist for four years over coverage of evictions
Bangkok, September 19, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today strongly condemned the sentencing of Vietnamese journalist Do Cong Duong and called for his immediate and unconditional release. A court in the northern province of Bac Ninh sentenced Duong on September 17 to four years in prison for disturbing public order, which is a criminal offense…