Seeking ‘answers and accountability’: Reporters cover Uvalde shooting amid police obstruction
False narratives, threats of arrest, and a biker group blocking access. These are just a few of the challenges journalists have faced while covering the aftermath of the May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Threats to press freedom are hardly the main story in Uvalde, where police failed to stop the…
Italian police search newsroom and journalist’s home, surveil news crew in leak investigation
Berlin, June 13, 2022 – Italian authorities should stop harassing journalists and refrain from actions that could endanger the confidentiality of their sources, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. On May 24, agents of the Italian Anti-Mafia Investigation Directorate (Direzione Investigativa Antimafia) raided and searched the newsroom of public broadcaster RAI3’s investigative program “Report,”…
Burkina Faso journalist Luc Pagbelguem says prime minister’s bodyguard attacked him
Dakar, June 13, 2022 – Burkina Faso authorities should investigate the recent attack on journalist Luc Pagbelguem and hold that person to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. On May 19, a member of Prime Minister Albert Ouédraogo’s security detail grabbed Pagbelguem, a reporter with privately owned TV station BF1, pulled him to…
Two Ghanaian journalists attacked at Benya FM, one left unconscious
On May 16, 2022, at around 7:30 p.m., three men forced their way into privately owned Ghanaianbroadcaster Benya FM in the town of Elminaon the southern Takoradi highway, attacked two of the station’s staff — program host Eric Blessing Eshun and producer Emmanuel Egyirfah— and destroyed equipment, according a report by the privately owned news…
São Paulo residents threaten photojournalist Caio Castor, try to enter residence
Rio de Janeiro, June 7, 2022 – Authorities in Brazil’s São Paulo state must thoroughly investigate the threats of local residents against freelance photojournalist Caio Castor and ensure he can continue to report safely and without fear of reprisal, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. Around 6:30 p.m. on May 28, a group of…
Kashmir Walla interim editor Yashraj Sharma summoned for questioning by Jammu and Kashmir authorities
New York, June 3, 2022– The Committee to Protect Journalists on Friday called on authorities in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir to immediately cease harassing and intimidating Yashraj Sharma, interim editor of the online news portal of The Kashmir Walla, and the portal’s staff. The newly created State Investigation Agency (SIA), a body of the Jammu and Kashmir police…
Sierra Leone publisher Chernoh Alpha Bah threatened with death, charges of treason
Abuja, May 31, 2022 — Sierra Leone authorities must cease their harassment of the Africanist Press news site and its publisher, Chernoh Alpha Bah, and should investigate the death threats against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. On May 4, Sierra Leone’s Office of National Security (ONS), a federal security agency, submitted a…
Afghan journalist Ali Akbar Khairkhah disappears in Kabul, Taliban cracks down on women reporters
Washington, D.C., May 27, 2022 – Taliban authorities must investigate the disappearance of Afghan journalist Ali Akbar Khairkhah and ensure that local officials allow female journalists to do their jobs without interference, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. On Tuesday, May 24, Khairkhah, a photojournalist and reporter with the local Subhe Kabul newspaper, disappeared…
Colombia’s Indigenous ‘communicators’ face special challenges reporting for their communities
Mabel Quinto Salas is a reporter for Radio Pa’yumat, a station in the Northern Cauca region of Colombia. But she doesn’t identify as a journalist. Instead, she calls herself a “community communicator,” a category that is common among Colombia’s Indigenous communities. “Communication is seen as a tool for visibility, for denunciation of human rights violations, but also for…
Ethiopian authorities arrest 11 employees of 4 independent media outlets
New York, May 24, 2022 – Ethiopian authorities should immediately release all recently arrested journalists and media workers and ensure that authorities cease harassing members of the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. Authorities have arrested at least 11 journalists and media workers since May 19 in Amhara state and the capital Addis…