Semana editor Calderón escapes shooting unharmed
New York, May 2, 2013–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Colombian authorities to fully investigate an attack against editor Ricardo Calderón, whose car was shot at by unidentified gunmen on Wednesday night in the town of Girardot. Calderón was unharmed.
In Eskinder case, politicized verdict undermines Ethiopia
New York, May 2, 2013—In response to today’s ruling by Ethiopia’s Supreme Court to uphold an 18-year prison sentence imposed on award-winning journalist Eskinder Nega and reject his appeal, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement: “This ruling trivializes the serious crime of terrorism, upholds a politically motivated travesty of justice, and lessens…
Impunity in journalist killings muzzles press
CPJ Impunity Index: Nigeria enters ranking; Somalia, Pakistan, Brazil and Mexico persist New York, May 2, 2013–Unpunished, deadly violence continues to plague the press globally and has notably increased in Nigeria, according to the 2013 Impunity Index, the Committee to Protect Journalists’ annual ranking of countries where journalists are murdered regularly and their killers go…
Responding to Hacked Off
Some years back during a visit to the Gambia–the West African nation ruled by a thin-skinned and mercurial president, Yahya Jammeh–I holed up in the sweltering Interior Ministry and pressed officials to release imprisoned journalists and ease up on the country’s brutal media crackdown. The officials resisted, arguing that the press in Gambia was “reckless…
Somaliland official says media owner attacked by police
New York, April 30, 2013–A senior administration official in Somaliland has said that police officers were the perpetrators of an April 24 attack on the owner of a media network, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on authorities in the semi-autonomous republic to conduct a thorough investigation and ensure that all…
Journalist murders muzzle the press
CPJ to launch 2013 Impunity Index New York, April 30, 2013 — The Committee to Protect Journalists will release its 2013 Impunity Index, a global tally of countries with the highest number of unsolved press murders, on May 2, 2013. The index, which calculates unsolved journalist murders as a percentage of each country’s population, shows…
European outlets report journalists missing in Syria
New York, April 30, 2013–The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about the well-being of two European journalists who went missing in western Syria three weeks ago. News reports identified the journalists as Domenico Quirico, a veteran reporter for the Italian daily La Stampa, and Pierre Piccinin da Prata, a Belgian academic and freelance…
News from the Committee to Protect Journalists, April 2013
A legislative milestone in Mexico In what CPJ called “a step forward in the fight against impunity,” Mexico approved legislation that would implement a constitutional amendment giving federal authorities broader jurisdiction to prosecute crimes against freedom of expression. The legislation, passed on April 25, will implement a constitutional amendment approved by the Mexican federal congress in 2012. The measure…