The Torch

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called on Israeli authorities to stop harassing and obstructing Al Jazeera after armed Israeli forces raided the Qatari broadcaster’s office in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah during a live broadcast early Sunday morning, ordered its closure for 45 days, and forced its staff to leave. “CPJ is…

The Committee to Protect Journalists announced on Thursday that it will honor four exceptional journalists with its 2024 International Press Freedom Awards. This year’s awardees, who cover Gaza, Guatemala, Niger, and Russia, have withstood extraordinary challenges to continue reporting on their communities while experiencing war, prison, government crackdowns, and the rising criminalization of their work….

On Wednesday, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Free Press Unlimited (FPU), and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) — who together form the ‘A Safer World for the Truth’ initiative — called for a swift and impartial trial after fugitive ex-governor Joel T. Reyes surrendered to authorities in connection with the 2011 murder of Philippine broadcast…

Amid political tension in Guinea-Bissau following President Umaro Sissoco Embaló’s dissolution of parliament in December, it was only natural for radio journalist Ussumane Mané to ask the West African leader a question that was on everyone’s lips: will there be a presidential election this year? Embaló, a former army general who came to power on…

The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned Thursday’s conviction by a Hong Kong court of former Stand News editors Patrick Lam and Chung Pui-kuen on charges of conspiracy to publish seditious publications and called on authorities to stop using anti-state charges against journalists. The ruling showed that Hong Kong is “descending further into authoritarianism,” CPJ Asia…

“He hit me with a gun butt,” Premium Times newspaper reporter Yakubu Mohammed told the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), recalling how he was struck by a police officer while reporting on cost-of-living protests in Nigeria’s capital of Abuja on August 1. Two other officers beat him, seized his phone, and threw him in a…

The U.S. election is less than 100 days away, with the Democratic National Convention next week marking a key news moment. As journalists are frequently at risk of being attacked, harassed, and detained while covering political events, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has engaged in a comprehensive effort to ensure that independent journalists and…

Russia’s months-long jailing of journalists Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva — released on August 1 as part of a prisoner exchange — was one of the most blatant illustrations of Russia’s muzzling of the press in the wake of its February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. While practicing journalism in Russia has long been difficult,…

The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomed the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) editor Alsu Kurmasheva as part of a prisoner exchange, and called on Russia to release other jailed journalists and stop harassing those in exile. “Evan and Alsu were detained and sentenced on spurious charges…

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and nine other human rights and press freedom organizations called on the White House and U.S. Congressional leaders to press the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the unprecedented number of journalists killed in the Gaza Strip and the near-total ban on international media entering the Strip, during his…