Newseum honors fallen colleagues
After each name was read aloud, the ring of a bell resonated through the studio auditorium that included many relatives, friends, and colleagues of the journalists whose names were being added to the Newseum Journalists Memorial. Some, like Tom Borrelli of The Buffalo News, died unexpectedly; Borrelli fell while climbing steep stairs on his way…
Can Sierra Leone bring justice in fatal beating of editor?
The case had all the hallmarks of a sordid thriller. There was “a rogue politician, a journalist getting killed, a staunchly incurious police, and the media in frenzy,” veteran journalist Lansana Gberie wrote in the New African, describing the fatal 2005 beating of editor Harry Yansaneh in Sierra Leone.
Impunity in the Philippines: No exaggeration
When we launched CPJ’s new Impunity Index today in Manila, the government of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo reacted viscerally. Just after we released the report, which prominently features the Philippines, Presidential Press Secretary Cerge Remonde sent out a statement to journalists by text message describing the report as “a bit of an exaggeration.”
Seeking justice for Marlene Garcia-Esperat
Today CPJ launched its 2009 Global Impunity Index in Manila to mark the fourth anniversary of the murder of Marlene Garcia-Esperat, left, a Philippine columnist who reported on corruption in the government’s agriculture department. Garcia-Esperat was gunned down in her home in front of her family in a case that has become emblematic of the…
In Russia, criminal ties to government fuel impunity
In Russia, even official statistics present a depressing picture: Contract-style murders of journalists, more often than not, remain unsolved. Even the rare investigations that result in trials do not answer the main question: Who ordered the killing?
Going beyond national borders to combat impunity
Combating impunity has been a long and difficult process, full of obstacles and problems. At the national level it has not been easy, so much of our work is carried out using the supranational tools that we helped develop. They began taking shape through international intergovernmental declarations, in conclusions reached by international legislative and judicial…
CPJ seeks aggressive probe into Jawed Ahmad killing
New York, March 11, 2009–After the deadly attack on freelance journalist Jawed Ahmad in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on Tuesday, the Committee to Protect Journalists called today for an aggressive investigation into the murder in order to put an end to a pattern of impunity that marked past journalist murders.
CPJ urges Sri Lankan ambassador to investigate attacks
New York, March 6, 2009–A delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists met yesterday with the Sri Lankan Ambassador to the United States and called for a comprehensive and transparent investigation into a series of recent attacks against the press that may have involved government forces.
Three men acquitted in Politkovskaya murder
New York, February 19, 2009–Three defendants in the October 2006 murder of Novaya Gazeta journalist Anna Politkovskaya walked free out of the Moscow District Military Court today after a jury unanimously acquitted them of helping to organize the crime, according to local news reports. The state prosecution said it will appeal the verdict.