In Oaxaca, reporters covering teachers’ union protests face violence, threats
The atmosphere in Nochixtlán, a small, rural community in Mexico’s southern state of Oaxaca, was tense on June 20. The day before, members of a dissident teachers’ union had clashed with federal and state police while protesting education reform. Shots were fired and, by the end of the day, nine people had died and dozens…
Infographic: Islamic State’s assault on the press
When Mosul fell to Islamic State on June, 10, 2014, it sparked one of the biggest attacks on press freedom in recent times. Newspapers were shuttered, TV channels were ransacked, radio stations disappeared from the airwaves, and dozens of journalists vanished. Within days, the militants had a monopoly on information output.
Two journalists disappear in Colombia while covering story of missing reporter
Bogotá, Colombia, May 24, 2016– Two Colombian TV journalists may have been kidnapped in Colombia’s dangerous northeast Catatumbo region, their employer said today. Reporter Diego D’Pablos and camera operator Carlos Melo, of Bogotá’s RCN TV station, were investigating the disappearance of Salud Hernández-Mora, a Spanish-Colombian journalist who was last seen Saturday afternoon in the village…
Breaking the Silence
On February 11, 2011, as journalists were documenting the raucous celebration in Cairo’s Tahrir Square following the fall of Hosni Mubarak, the story took a sudden and unexpected turn. CBS 60 Minutes correspondent Lara Logan, who was reporting from the square, was violently separated from her crew and security detail by a mob of men.…
Preparing for the Worst
It’s a calm day in a Ugandan village. Women gather on plastic chairs, shaded from the afternoon sun. I’m here with a handful of journalists on a reporting trip sponsored by the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF). The village women welcome us and begin to tell us about their lives. Then something happens. A man…
The Sadness of May the 25th
To rewrite one’s story, when it is so painful, feels like a kind of suicide. Psychologists would say that is part of a grieving process, helping close nefarious chapters in life. We, the victims of sexual violence, are often told that. But I think it would be more helpful to the goal of moving forward…
Kidnapping for profit or propaganda: How hostage risk for journalists is on the rise
From Central America to North Africa, kidnappings are on the rise and journalists are among the groups at risk of being abducted. Adding to the challenges of dealing with a hostage situation is a lack of solid information about kidnappings worldwide, or a united international response in dealing with the demands of kidnap groups.
In Colombia, second attacker sentenced in Jineth Bedoya case
New York, March 18, 2016–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the sentencing today of former paramilitary fighter Mario Jaimes Mejía who, according to reports, was handed a 28-year prison term for the kidnap, rape, and torture of Colombian journalist Jineth Bedoya Lima in 2000. Last month, Alejandro Cárdenas Orozco, a former paramilitary fighter, was sentenced…
Hostage video shows Japanese journalist Jumpei Yasuda, who went missing in Syria
A freelance Japanese journalist who went missing in Syria in June 2015 appeared in a video on March 16, 2016, which was posted to the Facebook account of a Syrian named Tarik Abdul Hak. Jumpei Yasuda, who speaks in English in the video, says that no one in Japan cares about his captivity, and that…