New York, February 6, 2004—The Daily News, Zimbabwe’s only independent daily, decided not to publish its Friday edition following a Thursday, February 5, Supreme Court ruling upholding legislation that criminalizes the publication of unlicensed newspapers. According to international news reports, the directors of the Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ), the company that owns the Daily…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an independent, nonpartisan organization dedicated to defending press freedom worldwide, is extremely concerned about deteriorating press freedom conditions in Russia. Recent steps taken by the Federal Security Service (FSB) to harass and intimidate independent journalists in retaliation for their work are particularly troubling. While FSB officials say they are safeguarding national security, journalists say they have become targets for reporting on government corruption and FSB abuses.
Bogotá, February 5, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is investigating the murder of Oscar Alberto Polanco Herrera, a television journalist who was shot dead yesterday, February 4, in the town of Cartago, Valle del Cauca Department, 125 miles (200 kilometers) southwest of the capital, Bogotá. Authorities said that Polanco Herrera, director of the local…
New York, February 5, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) deplores recent violent attacks on private Palestinian media outlets in the West Bank and Gaza Strip by armed gunmen. At around 4:00 a.m. on Monday, February 2, three masked Palestinian men carrying automatic rifles stormed the offices of the Ramallah-based Al-Quds Educational Television, according to…
New York, February 5, 2004—Zimbabwe’s Supreme Court today upheld legislation that allows the government to decide who can be a journalist and criminalizes the practice of the profession by those who are not approved by the government. “This is a heavy blow to press freedom in Zimbabwe and sends a chilling message to the country’s…
Dear Lieutenant General Yaalon: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to request information about the status of the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) investigations into the shooting deaths of two journalists in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 2003, and to reiterate our call for a thorough inquiry into these deaths.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is troubled by the recent criminal charges brought against journalists working for the private weekly newspaper Telegraph. On January 16, Editor-in-Chief Philip Moore Jr., Managing Editor Adolphus Karnuah, and Subeditor Robert Kpadeh Jr. were arrested and brought to the Magistrate Court in the capital, Monrovia, where they were charged with “criminal malevolence.”
New York, February 4, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) strongly condemns the recent violent attack against Colombian journalist and human rights activist Inés Peña, who was assaulted and tortured in the city of Barrancabermeja, Santander Department, last week. On January 28 at around 3 p.m., two armed men abducted the journalist while she was…
Dear Mr. de León: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an independent, nonpartisan organization dedicated to defending press freedom worldwide, is disturbed by the alleged participation of Guatemala state agents in a June 2003 attack against José Rubén Zamora, publisher of the daily elPeriódico. We urge you to ensure that these allegations are fully investigated and to bring those responsible to justice.
New York, February 2, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council’s (IGC) decision to bar the Qatar-based satellite broadcaster Al-Jazeera from covering official IGC activities in Iraq. Al-Jazeera’s Baghdad bureau chief, Majid Khader, told CPJ that he was informed on January 29 via e-mail that Al-Jazeera’s staff was barred from…