Kyrgyz journalists on the online ‘fake farms’ that threaten to kill them
“At first, they appeared on my Instagram, then they showed up on my Facebook and YouTube accounts,” Ali Toktakunov told CPJ in a phone interview. The investigative Kyrgyz journalist and founder of Ali Toktakunov’s Media Hub, a foundation for investigative journalism, says he is a frequent target of trolls or fake social media accounts that…
India state assembly elections 2021: Journalist safety guide
India is scheduled to hold legislative assembly elections in the states of Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Puducherry in March, April, and May 2021. Media workers covering any of these elections should be aware of the potential risk of physical attack, intimidation, and harassment; online bullying; COVID-19 exposure; arrest and detention; and government…
Conspiracy theories grow in the U.S., creating threats to journalist safety
On the eve of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, conspiracy theories have abounded online amid the global pandemic and a polarized political climate. Journalists covering nearly every beat grapple with misinformation, which is false but may be spread by mistake, as well as disinformation, when falsehoods are shared intentionally. QAnon has emerged as one…
Digital Safety: Protecting against targeted online attacks
Journalists reporting on misinformation, conspiracy theories, and/or false news are frequently left vulnerable to online attacks by those who originate or support these views, as well as by people with strong political leanings. People supporting the spread of this type of information online may organize coordinated attacks with the aim of forcing journalists offline and…
NY Times reporter Davey Alba on covering COVID-19 conspiracy theories, facing online harassment
Over the course of Davey Alba’s career as a tech reporter, her beat has transformed from covering the latest gadgets and phones to investigating the creeping influence and massive power wielded by tech companies over peoples’ everyday lives. As the coronavirus pandemic has spread across the globe, Alba, who covers tech and disinformation at The…
British Virgin Islands law to impose fines, jail terms for online defamation
Miami, December 23, 2019 — British Virgin Islands Governor Augustus Jaspert should reject cybercrime legislation recently approved by the territory’s legislature, or require revisions to the bill to protect press freedom, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Q&A: Leona O’Neill on the aftermath of Lyra McKee’s killing in Northern Ireland
Leona O’Neill was reporting in Londonderry’s Creggan estate on April 18, 2019, the night Lyra McKee, 29, was struck by a bullet. Considered a rising star in the British and Irish media, McKee was the first journalist to be killed in Northern Ireland since 2001, CPJ noted at the time.
South African court rules Malema, EFF violated Electoral Code of Conduct in Karima Brown doxxing incident
Johannesburg, June 6, 2019–The Johannesburg High Court ruled today that opposition politician Julius Malema and his political party, the Economic Freedom Fighters, had breached the country’s Electoral Code of Conduct by doxxing veteran journalist Karima Brown, according to a copy of the judgment seen by the Committee to Protect Journalists and news reports.