Tweaking a global source of news
The only way Abdalaziz Alhamza and his fellow citizen journalists could get out news from the Islamic State’s self-declared capital in Syria to a global audience was by posting materials on Facebook and YouTube. “They were the only way to spread news since many militias and governments prevented most, if not all, the independent media…
Islamic State recedes but threats to journalists in Iraq and Syria remain
After three years of fighting in Iraq and Syria, the militant group Islamic State has been forced out of large swathes of territory. But local journalists and press freedom groups with whom CPJ spoke said that the defeat of Islamic State doesn’t necessarily mean that journalists will be any safer.
Zone of Silence
The public is robbed of information when journalists are murdered By Robert Mahoney Journalist Avijit Roy founded the blog “Mukto-Mona,” or Free Thinker, as a forum for free expression and ideas that challenged the growing religious intolerance in his native Bangladesh. His blog for intellectual freedom cost him his life.
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of June 12
Constitutional Court rejects journalist’s appeal Turkey’s Constitutional Court today ruled that journalist Mehmet Baransu’s constitutional right to freedom of expression and the constitution’s guarantees of press freedom were not contravened in the journalist’s March 2015 arrest in connection with in an alleged, elaborate conspiracy codenamed “Sledgehammer.” The same court in May 2016 rejected his petition…
For journalists fleeing Islamic State, Turkey ‘is as dangerous as Syria’
For the past two years, activists and journalists seeking refuge from Islamic State repression in Raqqa would take sanctuary across the border in southern Turkey, setting up safe houses and offices, and darting back to Syria regularly with camera equipment and other vital supplies. But that sanctuary is now under threat.
CPJ calls for investigation into murder of Syrian journalists in Turkey
New York, October 30, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the Turkish authorities to investigate and bring to justice the murderers of two Syrian journalists found slain in an apartment in the city of Urfa in southeastern Turkey today. Ibrahim Abd al-Qader worked as the executive director and Fares Hamadi as head of the…
How Islamic State uses killings to try to spread fear among media
The militant group Islamic State may be trying to push Syria back into the dark ages, but it is fighting a very modern war. From slick propaganda videos to online surveillance and wide restrictions on Internet use, the Islamic State is trying to control media output and stamp down on dissent.