Seeking ‘answers and accountability’: Reporters cover Uvalde shooting amid police obstruction
False narratives, threats of arrest, and a biker group blocking access. These are just a few of the challenges journalists have faced while covering the aftermath of the May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Threats to press freedom are hardly the main story in Uvalde, where police failed to stop the…
Italian police search newsroom and journalist’s home, surveil news crew in leak investigation
Berlin, June 13, 2022 – Italian authorities should stop harassing journalists and refrain from actions that could endanger the confidentiality of their sources, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. On May 24, agents of the Italian Anti-Mafia Investigation Directorate (Direzione Investigativa Antimafia) raided and searched the newsroom of public broadcaster RAI3’s investigative program “Report,”…
CPJ announces three trailblazing newsroom leaders as new members of its board of directors
New York, June 13, 2022 – The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) announced Monday the addition of three distinguished journalists to its board of directors: Sally Buzbee, the executive editor of The Washington Post; Alessandra Galloni, the editor-in-chief of Reuters; and Julie Pace, the executive editor of The Associated Press (AP). “We are thrilled to…
Burkina Faso journalist Luc Pagbelguem says prime minister’s bodyguard attacked him
Dakar, June 13, 2022 – Burkina Faso authorities should investigate the recent attack on journalist Luc Pagbelguem and hold that person to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. On May 19, a member of Prime Minister Albert Ouédraogo’s security detail grabbed Pagbelguem, a reporter with privately owned TV station BF1, pulled him to…
Two Ghanaian journalists attacked at Benya FM, one left unconscious
On May 16, 2022, at around 7:30 p.m., three men forced their way into privately owned Ghanaianbroadcaster Benya FM in the town of Elminaon the southern Takoradi highway, attacked two of the station’s staff — program host Eric Blessing Eshun and producer Emmanuel Egyirfah— and destroyed equipment, according a report by the privately owned news…
CPJ calls on Brazilian authorities to expand search for missing journalist Dom Phillips
Rio de Janeiro, June 9, 2022 – Brazilian authorities must expand their efforts to search for missing journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. Phillips and Pereira went missing the morning of Sunday, June 5. Phillips, a freelance British journalist based in Brazil who has reported for…
Taliban forces beat journalist Reza Shahir, charge 3 others over corruption reporting
New York, June 9, 2022 — The Taliban must investigate the beating of journalist Reza Shahir, and immediately drop all charges against journalists Firoz Ghafori, Basira Mosamem, and Olugh Beig Ghafori, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. At about midnight on June 3, Taliban forces stopped Shahir while he was on his way to…
‘The war eats you alive’: Gaza journalists on the toll of covering Israeli attacks
Since May, Palestinian journalists have endured two traumatizing events: the killing of their colleague, Al-Jazeera’s Shireen Abu Akleh, and the one-year anniversary of an Israeli airstrike that destroyed a Gaza City building housing The Associated Press and Al-Jazeera, along with other offices and residential apartments, during an Israeli military campaign against militant groups in Gaza. That war…
Russian authorities fine Vecherniye Vedomosti newspaper, threaten 60.ru news website over Ukraine war coverage
New York, June 8, 2022 – Russian authorities must stop their efforts to silence reporting on the country’s invasion of Ukraine, and drop all fines and penalties issued to outlets covering the conflict, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. On June 3, the Kirovsky District Court in the central city of Yekaterinburg fined the…
At least 9 journalists detained in Turkish city of Diyarbakır
Istanbul, June 8, 2022 – In response to multiple news reports that Turkish authorities detained several journalists in the southeastern city of Diyarbakır on Wednesday, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement of condemnation: “Turkish authorities’ arbitrary detention of at least nine journalists today marks another dark day for the press in the…