2017
Q&A: Indian editor explains how threat of legal action is used to silence journalists
On July 5, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, editor of the Economic and Political Weekly, and his colleagues Advait Rao Palepu and Shinzani Jain, received a notice from Thaker and co., a law firm representing Adani Power Ltd, that threatened legal action over a story published the month before.
South Sudan detains director of public broadcaster for more than a week
Nairobi, July 18, 2017–South Sudanese authorities should immediately release Adil Faris Mayat, the director of the country’s public broadcaster, South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation, the Committee to Protect Journalist said today. National Security Service agents arrested Mayat in Juba on July 10, according to media reports.
CPJ announces 2017 International Press Freedom Award winners
New York, July 18, 2017–The Committee to Protect Journalists will honor journalists from Cameroon, Mexico, Thailand, and Yemen with its 2017 International Press Freedom Awards. The journalists have faced government harassment, death threats, or imprisonment in their pursuit of the truth. CPJ is also honoring PBS journalist Judy Woodruff with its inaugural Gwen Ifill Press…
Memory of Mexico’s investigative reporter Javier Valdez will live on through his work
Two months have passed since Javier Valdez Cárdenas, the Mexican investigative reporter and recipient of CPJ’s International Press Freedom Award, was murdered. The grief over his killing in Culiacán, the capital of Sinaloa state, has left many looking for answers as to why the investigation into his murder appears to have yielded few results so…
Nigerian court orders journalist facing false reporting charge to be detained
New York, July 17, 2017–Nigerian authorities should drop all charges against Luka Binniyat and release the journalist from jail immediately, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. A judge ordered the journalist to be detained on charges of “breach of public peace” and false reporting over an article he wrote for the daily, Vanguard, according…
Russia-backed separatists holding Ukrainian journalist, accuse him of espionage
New York, July 17, 2017–Russia-backed separatists in Ukraine’s east should immediately release Donetsk-based journalist Stanyslav Aseyev, who has been detained by the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR), the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Aseyev, who has contributed to the Ukrainian service of the U.S.-government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty under the pseudonym Stanyslav Vasin, went…
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of July 16, 2017
Germany says Turkey offered prisoner swap for jailed journalist German daily Bild cited an unnamed German diplomatic source as saying that Turkey offered to exchange imprisoned journalist Deniz Yücel for two former generals who sought asylum in Germany. Germany’s foreign ministry rejected the offer, the anonymous source told Bild. Turkey has not commented publicly on…
Online defamation law amendments fall short in Myanmar
Bangkok, July 17, 2017–A ministerial proposal to amend Myanmar’s 2013 Telecommunications Law falls short of the changes needed to guarantee press freedom, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The statute has been repeatedly abused to stifle online speech and jail journalists, CPJ has found.
Security forces raid Ukrainian media group
New York, July 14, 2017–Ukrainian authorities should cease harassing journalists and employees of the Vesti media company, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. National police and military prosecutors today raided the Kiev office of Media Holding Vesti, which includes Radio Vesti, the daily newspaper Vesti, and the news website Vesti-ukr.com, according to its editor…