The number of journalists murdered in retaliation for their work more than doubled in 2020 as criminal gangs and militant groups targeted reporters working in violent but democratic nations. Globally, at least 30 journalists were killed of December 15, 2020. Of those, 21 were murdered in direct retaliation for their work, compared with 10 in all of 2019. Learn their names and stories, and help ensure they are not forgotten.
NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware was identified on phones of at least 36 journalists and media executives, most of whom were affiliated with Al Jazeera, despite NSO Group’s assertion that its advanced surveillance tool is only used by governments for law enforcement purposes. As CPJ MENA Program Coordinator Sherif Mansour noted, “Citizen Lab presents mounting evidence that for clients in the Middle East, the ability to spy on journalists and other critics is a feature, rather than a side benefit, of NSO Group’s surveillance products.” The latest revelations come as CPJ joined an amicus brief in the WhatsApp v. NSO Group case calling upon the U.S. Federal 9th Circuit Court to hold the cybersurveillance company accountable. “In a year that has seen more journalists imprisoned for their work than ever before and widespread impunity for the attacks on the press, the continued sale and use of NSO’s spyware only serves to make the media’s working conditions around the world more dangerous,” CPJ Advocacy Director Courtney Radsch said. Check out CPJ’s safety advisory on Pegasus spyware for advice on how to avoid a spyware attack and steps to take if you believe that your digital devices have been compromised.
Global press freedom updates
- Photojournalist Rahmatullah Nikzad shot and killed in Afghanistan
- To finally solve the Hrant Dink murder, Turkey must ‘face itself’
- In Iguala, Mexico, murder and threats by organized crime shut down the news
- Cambodia sentences journalist Sok Oudom to 20 months in prison
- Chinese filmmaker and photographer Du Bin detained by police
- Journalist Truong Chau Huu Danh arrested in Vietnam
- Journalists in India face attacks, legal action, and threats
- Uzbek parliament moves to criminalize ‘dissemination of false information’
- Egyptian blogger Shadi Abu Zeid jailed for 6 months over 2016 Facebook video
- Ethiopian journalist Dawit Kebede detained without charge since November 30
- South Sudan journalist Bullen Alexander Bala detained for four days, charged
- Sierra Leone journalist Mahmud Tim Kargbo charged over police reporting
- Brazilian journalist held for five months under house arrest, gag order
- CPJ welcomes arrest in case of slain Mexican journalist Miroslava Breach
- CPJ emergencies has a safety advisory for journalists covering Uganda’s upcoming elections
Spotlight
The backdrop to increased murders of journalists in 2020 is CPJ’s research showing that in 8 out of 10 murders, the killers go free. CPJ fights this trend through the Global Campaign Against Impunity. CPJ is also a partner in the newly launched initiative A Safer World For Truth, which pursues justice for murdered journalists and helps keep their stories alive. Find ways to get involved here.
What we are reading
- Angela Quintal: Defending her journalism family’s right to tell the truth — Ufrieda Ho, Daily Maverick
- The Great iPwn: Journalists Hacked with Suspected NSO Group iMessage ‘Zero-Click’ Exploit — Bill Marczak, John Scott-Railton, Noura Al-Jizawi, Siena Anstis, and Ron Deibert, Citizen Lab
- Defenders of the fourth estate — CPJ Senior Africa Researcher Jonathan Rozen, The Continent
- Kampala has beef with YouTube, but it won’t stop the digital army — Charles Onyango-Obbo, The EastAfrican
- Fact-based journalism is best — Kiri Rupiah, Luke Feltham, Mail and Guardian
- Tanzania ‘using Twitter’s copyright policy to silence activists’ — Dickens Olewe, BBC News
- It wasn’t all bad: 2020 digital rights wins — Juliana Castro, Leanna Garfield, and Carolyn Tackett, Access Now