Impunity in journalist killings in Mexico continues to perpetuate a cycle of violence against the press. On October 28, in the southern state of Chiapas, an unidentified man shot and killed reporter Fredy Fernando López Arévalo outside his home. Also that day, armed men abducted Alfredo Cardoso Echevarría at his home in Acapulco; he was found the next day with several gunshot wounds, and died on October 31. CPJ is investigating whether the journalists were killed due to their reporting.
Mexico is the deadliest country for journalists in the Western Hemisphere. “Even though [Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s government] has committed themselves verbally to protecting freedom of expression and protecting journalists, they have been woefully inadequate in doing so,” said CPJ Mexico Representative Jan-Albert Hootsen on CNN.
- CPJ condemns killing of Yemeni journalist Rasha Abdullah al-Harazi in car bomb attack
- A Nigerian journalist took photos at the scene of killings his government denies; then the harassment started
- Palestinian security forces arrest freelance journalist Naseem Mualla
- Bolivian journalists abducted and assaulted by armed men while covering land dispute
- Belarus journalists charged and detained over alleged Facebook interactions with banned outlets
- Iran shutters state-run newspaper Kelid that implied supreme leader was responsible for poverty
- Polish journalist Agnieszka Pikulicka denied entry to Uzbekistan
- Hungary’s Klubrádió owner András Arató spoke to CPJ about how the station is responding to the loss of its broadcast license
- Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents’ Club survey shows journalists concerned about possible arrest and prosecution
Spotlight
There is only one week left until CPJ’s 2021 International Press Freedom Awards! Each year, the event provides an opportunity to celebrate courage in journalism and demonstrate the importance of press freedom. CPJ will present awards to brave journalists from Guatemala, Mozambique, and Myanmar, and will present the Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award to imprisoned Hong Kong media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai.
The event will be streamed on ipfa.cpj.org and abcnews.com, as well as on Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook. The show will include powerful stories of the threats journalists face globally, and messages of hope from press freedom supporters. It will be an inspiring night, so mark your calendars for next Thursday at 8 p.m. EST/5 p.m. PST, and join us in congratulating awardees on social media with #pressfreedom and #IPFA.
- Behind the success of the Kenyan Twitter disinformation campaign to discredit the Pandora Papers — Nwachukwu Egbunike, Global Voices
- 2021 State of Civil Society Report — CIVICUS
- Along the U.S.-Mexico border, journalism is an act of resistance — Lise Olsen, Texas Observer
- NSO Blacklisting: Global reckoning begins for spyware and its tools of repression — Danna Ingleton, Haaretz
- Belarus: Government moves to stamp out remaining independent media — International Press Institute
- “A grim outlook”: How cyber surveillance is booming on a global scale — Patrick Howell O’Neill, MIT Technology Review
- Investigating internet shutdowns through Mozilla telemetry — Arturo Filastò, Maria Xynou, Ramakrishna Padmanabhan, and Alberto Dainotti, Open Observatory of Network Interference