Digital and Physical Safety: Protecting Confidential Sources
Protecting confidential sources is a cornerstone of ethical reporting. When journalists have agreed to protect someone’s identity, they should make every effort to do so, especially in circumstances where a source could be arrested or harmed. Maintaining confidentiality has become more challenging due to increasing levels of digital surveillance and monitoring by authorities and the…
Botswana police use Israeli Cellebrite tech to search another journalist’s phone
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe was not expecting security agents to appear at her home in a village outside Gaborone, Botswana’s capital, in July 2019, she told CPJ in a recent interview. But they didn’t come to arrest or charge her, she recalled – they came for her devices, hunting for the source for an article published by…
Idaho attorney files subpoena for testimony of reporter Nate Eaton
Washington, D.C., May 11, 2021 — The Committee to Protect Journalists today expressed concern over a subpoena ordering an Idaho reporter to testify in court, and called on the state’s judiciary not to enforce such an order. Yesterday, Nate Eaton, the news director at the local website EastIdahoNews.com, posted on Twitter an image of a…
Albanian authorities interrogate publisher of Lapsi.al, demand outlet turn over confidential information
Berlin, May 5, 2021 – Albanian authorities should immediately drop their investigation into Lapsi.al and ensure that all outlets can protect their confidential sources, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On April 16, the Special Court Against Corruption and Organized Crime in the capital, Tirana, ordered the independent news website Lapsi.al to hand over…
Palestinian journalist Muath Hamed questioned in Spain by alleged Israeli intelligence agent
New York, April 15, 2021 – The Committee to Protect Journalists today expressed concern over an account by Palestinian journalist Muath Hamed that he was summoned by Spanish authorities under false pretenses and questioned about his journalistic activity by someone he believes to be an Israeli intelligence operative. In early February, officers with Spain’s Civil…
South African journalist Sam Sole on landmark court victory: “2008 surveillance was the tip of the iceberg”
South Africa’s highest court, the Constitutional Court, handed down a landmark judgment on February 4 that not only protects journalists and their sources from surveillance abuse, but also upheld a lower court’s ruling that the insidious practice of the bulk interception of ordinary citizens’ data and communication is illegal. The ruling, documented by CPJ, was…
Carmody case shows grave police overreach, say lawyers
Bryan Carmody, a breaking news stringer who frequently worked the police beat in San Francisco, woke on May 10 to the sound of a sledgehammer at the metal gate securing his front door. Law enforcement agents investigating the leak of internal police documents were attempting to discover his source, CPJ reported at the time.
Argentine journalist Daniel Santoro summoned, phone records seized in extortion investigation
Miami, July 16, 2019 — The Committee to Protect Journalists today expressed concern over an Argentine court’s summons of journalist Daniel Santoro and urged authorities to respect the confidentiality of journalistic sources.
French reporters questioned by intelligence service in leak investigation
Berlin, May 14, 2019 — The General Directorate for Internal Security, France’s domestic intelligence agency, should stop pursuing investigative journalists Geoffrey Livolsi, Mathias Destal, and Benoît Collombat in a leak investigation, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.