New US Justice Department guidelines on source protection ‘an important step to protect press freedom’
On Wednesday, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the revision of the Justice Department’s regulations to restrict federal prosecutors’ ability to obtain journalists’ phone and email records in government leak investigations with narrow exceptions. The Department of Justice said this decision codifies Garland’s July 2021 policy change to extend the protections. “This is an important…
#EndImpunity: Maltese court sentences hitmen to 40 years each for role in assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia
A Maltese court sentenced brothers Alfred and George Degiorgio to 40 years each on October 14, following their guilty plea for their role as hitmen in the assassination of Malta’s leading investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017. Representatives from CPJ, Article 19 Europe, the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom, the European Federation…
Zero-click surveillance and press freedom: When spyware turns phones into weapons
It’s The Torch’s fourth anniversary! Sign up here to get the newsletter in your inbox. CPJ released a new report Thursday, “Zero-click Spyware: Enemy of the press,” about how zero-click surveillance threatens reporters, sources, and global press freedom. The report explains the insidious nature of spyware, its existential threat to journalists, and how it has…
CPJ, Knight Institute file FOIA for U.S. intelligence report on murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi
Just a few days after the grim four year anniversary of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University and CPJ Thursday filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the CIA, and…
Iran protests: At least 28 journalists arrested amid nationwide anti-government protests
As of Thursday, CPJ has documented the arrests of at least 28 journalists in Iran during nationwide protests over the September 16 death in custody of 22-year old Mahsa Amini. Earlier in the week, CPJ called on Iranian authorities to end their crackdown on journalists and release all those arrested for covering the protests. CPJ…
#MahsaAmini: Iranian security forces step up arrests of journalists as anti-state protests spread
In Iran, at least 11 journalists were taken into custody this week as clashes between security forces and protesters have left many dead, CPJ has learned from reliable sources inside Iran. Details of those arrested are sparse amid a near-total internet blackout and reports of major disruptions to phone networks and social media networks. The…
Journalists tell CPJ how Tunisia’s tough new constitution curbs their access to information
On a recent CPJ mission to Tunisia, local journalists spoke to CPJ about the erosion of press freedom alongside other human rights in the country over the last 14 months. In July 2021, Tunisia President Kais Saied fired Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi and suspended parliament, granting himself sole executive power. A year later, a heavily…
Police charge local official with murder of Las Vegas investigative journalist Jeff German
On the morning of Saturday, September 3, Jeff German, a reporter for the Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper who covered organized crime and political corruption, was found dead outside his home in Las Vegas with multiple stab wounds. On Wednesday, September 7, police arrested Clark County Public Administrator Robert Telles on suspicion of murder and later charged him with…
Deadliest country for journalists in Western Hemisphere: Killings continue unabated in Mexico amid a climate of impunity
At least 13 journalists were killed in Mexico in the first eight months of 2022, the highest number CPJ has ever documented in the country in a single year. In a country characterized by corruption and organized crime, it’s unclear how many were targeted directly because of their work. “That is a crisis of press freedom that…
Six months into the Russia-Ukraine war, 12 journalists killed
For six months, CPJ has covered how Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has affected press freedom in the region. At least 12 journalists have been killed covering the war and CPJ is investigating whether the deaths of three others were related to their work. Russia’s independent media has been gutted as scores of journalists have…