CPJ releases its 2018 Impunity Index to coincide with the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists. How the Saudis may have spied on slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Video journalist killed in Maoist rebel attack in India.
Global press freedom updates
Nine sheep wearing ‘PRESS’ jackets were sent to the Moscow office of Novaya Gazeta on October 29, 2018, in the latest threat against the Russian independent newspaper. (Novaya Gazeta/Victoria Odissonova)
- Threats against Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta took an absurd, yet disturbing, turn when nine sheep in “PRESS” jackets were left outside their Moscow office
- Separately in Russia, The New Times was ordered to pay a hefty fine for failing to provide financial information under Russia’s “foreign agents” law
- CPJ Deputy Executive Director Robert Mahoney reflected on Jamal Khashoggi’s last column and Saudi Arabia’s influence on Arab media
- CPJ sent a letter to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, urging them to keep up pressure to investigate the killing of Khashoggi
- Read the latest Turkey Crackdown Chronicle, CPJ’s weekly round-up of press freedom violations in the country
- Security staff at Qatar’s embassy in Swaziland briefly detained two journalists
- Following the arrest of an individual suspected of mailing bombs, including at least two addressed care of CNN, CPJ called on President Trump to dial back rhetoric against media and critics
Spotlight
CPJ’s annual Impunity Index finds that at least 324 journalists have been silenced through murder worldwide in the past decade, and in 85 percent of those cases the perpetrators walk free. Somalia tops the list for the fourth year in a row, and all 14 countries have appeared on the index multiple times since 2008. The index includes cases from September 1, 2008 to August 31, 2018.
Take action by tweeting #EndImpunity!
CPJ released a video about journalists imprisoned in Saudi Arabia
What we are reading
- Stop Killing the Messenger — CPJ Deputy Executive Director Robert Mahoney, Project Syndicate
- Trump administration must pursue investigation into Khashoggi case — CPJ Middle East and North Africa Research Associate Justin Shilad, and CPJ Washington Advocacy Manager Michael De Dora, The Hill
- From Lithuania, With Love — Ann Cooper, Roads & Kingdoms
- Freedom on the Net: The Rise of Digital Authoritarianism — Freedom House
- Justicia para Jamal Khashoggi — CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna, El Pais [ES]