On Monday, Gabon’s government shut down the nation’s internet and broadcasting services following an attempted coup against President Ali Bongo Ondimba. Sudan detained several critical columnists amid protests. In Canada, police blocked media from covering the breakup of an anti-pipeline protest led by indigenous activists.
Global press freedom updates
- Mozambican police arrested a radio journalist who was photographing families fleeing militant attacks
- Far-right extremists harassed and assaulted two Italian journalists
- Nigerian security services forced their way into the offices of the Daily Trust, seizing equipment and detaining two staff
- Five unknown assailants stormed the headquarters of the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation
- Journalists working for the Turkish news website Odatv have faced a series of threats directed at the outlet
- Read the latest Turkey Crackdown Chronicle, CPJ’s weekly round-up of press freedom violations in the country
Spotlight
CPJ and more than 200 international journalists published a letter to President Daniel Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo expressing concern over deteriorating press freedoms in Nicaragua, and calling for the release of detained reporters Miguel Mora and Lucía Pineda Ubau.
Mora and Pineda Ubau, directors at broadcast outlet 100% Noticias, were arrested in December 2018. The arrests come amid increasingly severe retaliation from Nicaraguan authorities against journalists and media outlets, including the death of journalist Ángel Eduardo Gahona.
What we are reading
- A Smarter Way to Recover Hostages–Joel Simon, CPJ Executive Director, The Wall Street Journal
- Why is Netflix enabling the Saudi crackdown on press freedom?–Courtney Radsch, CPJ Advocacy Director, Al Jazeera
- Backing up Brazil’s internet so Bolsonaro can’t censor it–Matthew Ingram, Columbia Journalism Review
- Viktor Orbán’s Far-Right Vision for Europe–Elizabeth Zerofsky, The New Yorker
- The man behind Vice’s push for freelancer insurance–Joel Simon, CPJ Executive Director, Columbia Journalism Review
Explore CPJ’s data.
Visit the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker database for info on press freedom violations in the U.S.