Outdated secrecy laws stifle the press in South Africa
Nelson Mandela regularly harangued the media once he’d been freed after 27 years of imprisonment by South Africa’s apartheid government. He would call individual journalists when he liked or disliked something they had written or when he wanted to advance a political lobby.
Journalists overcome obstacles through crowdfunding and determination
During South Africa’s Boer War, at the turn of the 20th century, a determined news organization relocated reporters, copy editors, and printing presses to the front line to ensure accurate reporting. In the Warsaw Ghetto, during World War II, a literal underground press, established to counter Nazi propaganda, required the nightly movement of cumbersome printing…
One year after arrest Zone 9 bloggers remain imprisoned as trial drags on
It will be one year this weekend since six bloggers were arrested in Addis Ababa, just days after the group announced on Facebook that their Zone 9 blog would resume publishing after seven months of inactivity. As the anniversary of the arrests approaches on Saturday, Soleyana S. Gebremichale, one of the Zone 9 founders who…
International coalition calls on European Court to prioritize Azerbaijani press cases
Azerbaijan, one of the 10 Most Censored Countries in the world, according to new research by the Committee to Protect Journalists, is to host the first-ever European Games this June. As Baku prepares to bask in the spotlight by hosting an international mega-event yet again, eight of the country’s independent journalists, including award-winning investigative reporter…
10 Most Censored Countries
10 Most Censored Countries 1. Eritrea 2. North Korea 3. Saudi Arabia 4. Ethiopia 5. Azerbaijan 6. Vietnam 7. Iran 8. China 9. Myanmar 10. Cuba Methodology » See updated list of 10 Most Censored Countries at https://cpj.org/reports/2019/09/10-most-censored-eritrea-north-korea-turkmenistan-journalist.php. The 2015 list of 10 Most Censored Countries is part of CPJ’s annual publication, Attacks on the…
CPJ condemns Iran’s espionage charges against Jason Rezaian
New York, April 20, 2015–CPJ is alarmed by reports of official charges levied against Washington Post Tehran bureau chief Jason Rezaian. The charges included espionage, “collaborating with hostile governments,” “propaganda against the establishment,” and allegations that he gathered information “about internal and foreign policy,” the Post reported today. His case file presents no evidence to…
CPJ to Mexican president: case of jailed journalist violates free expression
Dear President Peña Nieto: The Committee to Protect Journalists is writing to express its concern at the continued detention of an independent journalist and Mayan activist in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. Pedro Celestino Canché Herrera has been imprisoned since August 30, 2014, when he was arrested by state security forces and charged with sabotage.
Jailed journalist Gao Yu saw what was coming. So should the IOC
Gao Yu was right, I was wrong. Gao, who was handed a seven-year prison sentence in a Beijing court on Friday, and I met at a conference organized by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers in Paris in April 2008, a few months before the Beijing Olympic Games were to get underway. CPJ…
Mission Journal: Fewer arrests but fear still lingers for Somaliland’s press
Conditions for the press in the semi-autonomous republic of Somaliland may, on the surface, appear to be improving. But without a functioning media law to lend protection, and pending legislative elections, journalists remain wary of state harassment.
CPJ requests information about alleged detention of two journalists in Egypt
New York, April 17, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists wrote to the Egyptian Ministry of Justice on Thursday requesting information about two journalists who were allegedly arrested on Tuesday while attempting to cover the bombing of two electrical pylons that transmit power to the Media Production City in Cairo.