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CPJ Update
June 15, 2005 News from the Committee to Protect Journalists |
 In Senegal, freedom has limitsSenegal enjoys a reputation for having one of the freest presses in Africa, but the government maintains repressive laws that can be used to imprison journalists for what they write. Alexis Arieff, CPJ’s Africa research associate, traveled to Dakar last month to document journalists’ fight to reform the laws used to jail reporters. Arieff interviewed senior government officials, analysts, and reporters for her special report, “Freedom … With Limits.” Among those interviewed was Madiambal Diagne, the owner and managing editor of Le Quotidien who was imprisoned last year after writing about alleged executive interference in the judiciary. To read our special report: http://www.cpj.org/Briefings/2005/senegal_05/senegal_05.html CPJ travels the world Carlos Lauría, our Americas program coordinator, Deputy Director Joel Simon, and board member Andres Oppenheimer travel this month to Mexico. Mexican reporters, especially those on the drug-infested U.S.-Mexico border, are working under increasingly dangerous conditions. The CPJ delegation will meet with federal prosecutors in Mexico City to discuss the cases of several murdered journalists. Federal authorities have taken over several cases because the killings are believed related to organized crime. Alex Lupis, senior program coordinator for Europe and Central Asia, travels to Russia in July with Executive Director Ann Cooper, research associate Nina Ognianova, and board members David Marash and Jane Kramer. CPJ has convened a conference to bring together the relatives and colleagues of the 11 journalists slain in contract-style murders in Russia since 2000. No one has been brought to justice in any of the slayings. The conference will seek ways in which CPJ and the victim’s colleagues and families can work together to bring about justice. We’re grateful to the Open Society Institute for giving $20,000 to fund CPJ’s mission to Russia. To read more: http://www.cpj.org/Briefings/2005/russia_murders/russia_murders.html Our reporting makes news To read Crawford’s story: http://www.cpj.org/Briefings/2005/DA_spring05/missing_DA/missing_DA.html A pdf version of the guide is available at: http://www.cpj.org/regions_05/mideast_05/safety_guide_arabic.pdf Tales from Zimbabwe Save the date |
From Montreal to Ottawa, newspapers throughout Canada have reported on Julia Crawford’s investigation into the missing-person case of Guy-André Kieffer. The French and Canadian journalist vanished in Ivory Coast last year in a case that has generated questions and controversy across the world. Crawford, CPJ’s Africa program coordinator, detailed the Kieffer case in the cover story of the new issue of our magazine, Dangerous Assignments.
Journalists from several Arab-language publications–including Al-Hayat, a leading pan-Arab daily newspaper–covered the launch of the Arabic version of our journalist security handbook, “On Assignment: A Guide to Reporting in Dangerous Situations.” Frank Smyth, our journalist security coordinator, launched the edition in Doha, Qatar, last month.