Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of April 14, 2019
Sözcü journalists on trial At a hearing for journalists from the opposition daily Sözcü, in Istanbul, on April 18, the prosecutor asked that seven staff members be found guilty for “willingly and knowingly helping a [terrorist] organization without being in its hierarchical structure,” the news website Diken reported. The prosecutors argued that Sözcü was aiding…
‘You cannot muzzle the media’: Nigerian journalists on press freedom under Buhari
When Nigeria’s incumbent president Muhammadu Buhari won re-election this year, he campaigned (as he did in 2015) on an image of good governance and anti-corruption. Billboards in the capital, Abuja, bore the smiling faces of the president–who first led Nigeria as military ruler from 1983-1985–and his vice-president Yemi Osinbajo, and called for voters to let…
Nazarbayev’s long rule leaves toxic legacy for Kazakhstan’s media
In 2011, I observed an astonishing spectacle in the Respublika newspaper offices in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s financial capital. Journalists were putting a modern-day twist on samizdat, a practice in the Soviet Union whereby dissidents laboriously copied illicit material to circumvent censorship.
What we need to know about CBP’s searches of journalists at San Diego
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is investigating whether the Customs and Border Protection Agency inappropriately targeted and questioned journalists and activists. The investigation, announced by CBP on March 6, came after NBC 7 obtained documents showing that the border agency compiled a list of individuals, including at least 10 journalists, for additional screening.
Venezuelan police detain reporter Danilo Gil while covering protests, charge him with resisting authority
On March 30, 2019, police from Lagunillas, a municipality in Zulia state, beat and detained journalist Danilo Alberto Gil, a reporter for Venezuelan news outlet NotiRedVe–which operates on Twitter and Facebook–at around 9:30 a.m., while he was covering an opposition protest in the town of Ciudad Ojeda, according to posts on Twitter by NotiRedVe, local…
Italy’s migrant beat beset with smear campaigns, harassment
When Annalisa Camilli spent eight days on an Open Arms ship that rescues migrants in the Mediterranean, she knew her reporting for the Italian news magazine Internazionale may attract trolls. Camilli has covered the migrant beat for years and this was her second trip with the non-profit rescue operation. But, the reporter said, she was…
In Egypt, ‘freedom’ ends daily at 6pm for Shawkan and Abdelfattah
Relief over the release of Egyptian journalists Mahmoud Abou Zeid, known as Shawkan, and Alaa Abdelfattah from prison last month has been clouded by the conditions of their freedom. “I am happy to see your joy over my release, but I am unfortunately not free,” Abdelfattah wrote to his large following on social media yesterday.…
Covering elections: Journalist safety kit
During elections, journalists frequently cover rallies, campaign events, and protests, which can increase their risk of being attacked, harassed, and detained. CPJ’s Emergencies Response Team (ERT) has compiled a Safety Kit with information for editors, reporters, and photojournalists on how to prepare for elections and how to mitigate digital, physical and psychological risk.