Ukraine must hold independent probe in journalist beating
New York, December 27, 2013–The Ukrainian government must ensure that a thorough, independent, and transparent investigation is conducted in the brutal attack early Wednesday on prominent journalist Tetyana Chornovol, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Chornovol remains hospitalized in the capital, Kiev, with a concussion and multiple head injuries.
Reporting on South Sudan crisis difficult, dangerous
“They even started shooting through my house–I had to lie on the floor with my wife and kids,” Angelo Wello, a freelance journalist for faith-based news sites and a pastor, told me. Like many residents of the capital of Juba, South Sudan, Angelo has found it incredibly hard to get accurate information and report on…
CPJ condemns attack on Iraqi TV station
New York, December 23, 2013–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns today’s attack on Salah al-Din TV station headquarters in Tikrit, Iraq, which left several journalists dead. The attack comes amid a wave of targeted killings of journalists in the past few months that has made the country among the deadliest in the world for journalists.
CPJ to release annual report on killed journalists
New York, December 23, 2013–The Committee to Protect Journalists will release its annual report on journalists killed in relation to their work. CPJ’s report includes a comprehensive catalog of journalists worldwide who were killed in connection to their work. A breakdown of the cases by country, medium, and the number of local versus international correspondents…
While Tech Companies Call for Spying Reform, Telcos Silent
Geoffrey King, CPJ’s Internet Advocacy Coordinator, published a piece on PBS Media Shift about the absence of telecommunications companies signatures on an open letter calling for the US government “to take the lead and make reforms that ensure that government surveillance efforts are clearly restricted by law, proportionate to the risks, transparent, and subject to…
CPJ welcomes conviction in Igor Domnikov’s murder
New York, December 20, 2013–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes today’s conviction by Moscow’s Lyublinsky court of Russian businessman Pavel Sopot for inciting the 2000 murder of Novaya Gazeta journalist Igor Domnikov. The court sentenced Sopot to a seven-year term in a high-security prison, and ordered him to pay the journalist’s widow 1 million rubles…
Burmese journalist jailed for three months
Bangkok, December 20, 2013–A Burmese journalist was sentenced to three months in prison on Tuesday on charges of defamation, trespassing, and “using abusive language,” according to local news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists strongly condemns the conviction and calls on the court to reverse the verdict on appeal.
Journalists charged with criminal defamation in Thailand
Bangkok, December 20, 2013–The Royal Thai Navy should immediately drop the criminal defamation charges lodged on Wednesday against two journalists in connection with a report on alleged military abuses of ethnic Rohingya people, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.