Legal Action

Bangkok, July 17, 2018 – Vietnamese authorities yesterday suspended and fined local news website Tuoi Tre Online on accusations that it published false information, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists called on authorities to immediately and unconditionally lift the ban.

Bangkok, July 9, 2018 – A Myanmar court charged today two Reuters reporters, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, under the Official Secrets Act, the news agency reported. The Committee to Protect Journalists strongly condemned the criminal charges and called on authorities to drop the landmark case, which has major press freedom implications.

In 1993, WILK radio host Frederick Vopper broadcast a conversation intercepted by an illegal wiretap and sent anonymously to the Pennsylvania radio station, in which two teachers union officials discussed violent negotiating tactics. The officials sued Vopper, arguing that he should be liable for the illegal wiretap that captured their comments. But the Supreme Court…

The Committee to Protect Journalists today joined a coalition of 25 other international press freedom organizations to call on Kazakh authorities to drop criminal defamation cases against media outlets Forbes Kazakhstan and Ratel and revise the law on dissemination of “false information” often used to silence critical media outlets and journalists.

New York, May 15, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today expressed concern over the Ukraine Security Service’s (SBU) search of the Kiev office of the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti and detention of the office director, Kirill Vyshynsky.

Washington D.C., May 10, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Pakistani authorities to withdraw all charges against journalist Shabbir Siham, who is appealing a sentence of 22 years in prison and a 500,000 rupee (US$4,300) fine by an anti-terrorism court in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region.

Istanbul, April 25, 2018–An Istanbul court today convicted 14 people affiliated with the independent daily Cumhuriyet of aiding terrorist organizations and sentenced them to jail terms ranging between three and seven years, the newspaper reported. The court placed the journalists on probation and banned them from traveling until the appeals process has ended, according to…

Manuel Duran, the founder of Spanish-language news site Memphis Noticias, was arrested on April 3, 2018, while reporting on a protest against immigration detention in Memphis, Tennessee. Although the charges against Duran were dropped, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) transferred the reporter to a facility in Louisiana two days after his arrest.

On January 15, the Philippines’ Securities and Exchange Commission ruled that online news group Rappler had violated laws barring foreign ownership and control of local media, and moved to revoke its registration.

New York, April 2, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Turkish authorities to drop the politically motivated case against the exiled independent journalist Can Dündar, and allow him to do his work without fear of reprisal.