In a brief submitted to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, CPJ argued that the U.S. intelligence community should confirm or deny the existence of documents that may provide information on its awareness of threats to the life of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Watch yesterday’s Q&A with CPJ’s Washington Advocacy Manager Michael De Dora on the case.
Yesterday, CPJ alongside 59 partners launched the #HoldTheLine campaign in support of journalists Maria Ressa and Reynaldo Santos Jr., and other independent media under attack in the Philippines. Last month, Ressa and Santos were convicted of cyber-libel, a criminal charge for which they face up to six years in prison. Sign and share the petition to help #HoldTheLine and call for authorities to drop all charges and cases against Ressa, Santos, and Rappler, and read about how the journalists’ conviction didn’t take into account the public interest in this column by CPJ’s Executive Director Joel Simon.
This week, CPJ published a Q&A with Martin G. Reynolds, co-executive director of the California-based Maynard Institute, about the challenges facing Black journalists in the U.S and ways the media can encourage diversity.
Global press freedom updates
- On Monday, a Russian court convicted and fined journalist Svetlana Prokopyeva in a terrorism trial. Separately, journalist Ivan Safronov was charged with treason, and several journalists were arrested at protests for his release
- Unidentified attackers shoot and kill two journalists in Honduras
- Three photographers arrested while covering protests in Medellín, Colombia
- Journalists detained in Morocco following CPJ’s call for authorities to stop harassing Omar Radi
- Malaysian editor charged with contempt of court over reader comments
- Cuban journalist Jorge Enrique Rodríguez detained amid protests, awaiting trial
- Bulgarian investigative journalist receives threatening calls
- CPJ sends letter to U.S. Agency for Global Media encouraging unbiased coverage
- Kurdish Iraqi security forces arrest freelance photojournalist Qaraman Shukri
- Kazakhstan decriminalizes defamation, but maintains detentions, criminal penalties for speech offenses
- In Ghana, private individuals threaten one journalist, police harass two others
- Mozambican journalist Omardine Omar convicted of civil disobedience, fined
Spotlight
The One Free Press list this month includes 13 journalists from around the world under threat for their reporting.
Each month, the One Free Press Coalition, in partnership with CPJ and the International Women’s Media Foundation, shares a list of journalists facing urgent threats, from imprisonment to physical harm, to those murdered with impunity.
Journalists featured this month include Azimjon Askarov, who has been imprisoned for a decade in Kyrgyzstan; Egyptian journalist Solafa Magdy, imprisoned in Egypt; and Cameroonian reporter Samuel Wazizi, who died last year in military custody. Find the full list here.
What we are reading
- FBI failed to follow Justice Department’s news media guidelines when agents questioned San Francisco freelancer — Courtney Douglas, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
- News leaders and tech platforms must safeguard journalists from digital harassment to ensure press freedom — Gina M. Masullo and Carolyn McGourty Supple, Poynter
- Black journalists face challenges that stem from systemic racism — Mathew Ingram, Columbia Journalism Review
- Missing from headlines: How the Adityanath regime is going after local journalists — Akanksha Kumar and Martand Singh, Newslaundry
- Yemen’s journalists will not be silent. The world should not be, either. — CPJ Middle East & North Africa Senior Researcher Justin Shilad, The Washington Post Press Freedom Newsletter
- Facebook removes inauthentic network linked to Bolsonaro allies — Luiza Bandeira, Esteban Ponce de León, Zarine Kharazian, and Jean le Roux, Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab
- Safronov’s Arrest Is a New Low for Freedom of Speech in Russia — Andrei Soldatov, The Moscow Times