Americas

  
A member of the press hangs pictures of colleagues during a protest against the murder or disappearance of journalists in Mexico in front of the National Palace in Mexico City on June 1, 2018. Mexican cameraman Javier Enrique Rodríguez Valladares was killed in Cancún, in the southern state of Quintana Roo, on August 29. (AFP/Yuri Cortez)

Mexican cameraman killed in Quintana Roo

Mexico City, August 30, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists urges Mexican authorities to undertake an immediate and credible investigation into the killing of Javier Enrique Rodríguez Valladares, a cameraman for a local television broadcaster based in Cancún, in the southern Mexican state of Quintana Roo. Rodríguez Valladares was shot by unknown assailants around 6:00 p.m.…

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A memorial for slain journalist Angel Eduardo Gahona in Managua, Nicaragua, on April 26, 2018. Two men were convicted in Gahona's killing on August 27, in a trial that was criticized as unfair. (Reuters/Oswaldo Rivas)

Nicaragua convicts two men in journalist’s killing in trial criticized as unfair

Bogotá, Colombia, August 29, 2018–A Nicaraguan court on August 27 found two men guilty in the shooting death of journalist Ángel Eduardo Gahona in a trial that the journalist’s widow, defense lawyers, and human rights groups characterized as flawed. CPJ today called on authorities to conduct a transparent investigation and trial to ensure that Gahona’s…

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Anti-government protesters take part in a demonstration against Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega's government in Managua, Nicaragua, on August 15, 2018. The next week, the Nicaraguan government launched a campaign of harassment against independent TV station Channel 10. (Reuters/Oswaldo Rivas)

Nicaraguan government launches campaign of harassment against Channel 10

Bogotá, Colombia, August 24, 2018–The Nicaraguan government has launched a campaign of harassment against the independent TV station Channel 10, which has criticized President Daniel Ortega for ordering deadly attacks on anti-government protesters over the past four months, according to news reports.

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Google's logo is seen outside its office in Beijing. If the company were to launch a censored news app in China, it would send a message to other companies and other countries that trading press freedom principles for access to lucrative markets is acceptable. (Reuters/Thomas Peter)

Google complicity in Chinese censorship could endanger press freedom elsewhere

In 2010, after four years of offering Chinese users a heavily censored version of its search engine, Google decided it would no longer block search results at the request of the Chinese state. “Our objection is to those forces of totalitarianism,” Sergey Brin, Google’s co-founder, told The New York Times at the time, adding that…

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Reporter threatened, home attacked in southern Brazil

São Paulo, August 18, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned an attack on Brazilian reporter Adenilson Miguel and called on police in the country’s Minas Gerais state to ensure Miguel’s safety and identify those responsible and bring them to justice.

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A bridge during sunset in Bogota, Colombia in May 2018. A Bogota court sentenced José Miguel Narváez to 30 years in prison for instigating the murder of Colombian journalist, comedian, and peace activist Jaime Garzón. (Reuters/Henry Romero)

Mastermind convicted in 1999 murder of Colombian journalist Jaime Garzón

Bogotá, Colombia, August 15, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today welcomed the conviction and sentencing of the organizer of the 1999 murder of Colombian journalist, comedian, and peace activist Jaime Garzón, and expressed disappointment that the court did not consider Garzon’s work as a journalist in its decision.

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An audience member protests the news media during a President Donald Trump campaign rally in Washington Township, Michigan, on April 28, 2018. (AP/Paul Sancya)

CPJ’s backgrounder on US press freedom

In recent weeks CPJ has noticed an uptick in interest from editorial boards of U.S. publications on issues related to press freedom in the United States. In light of this, the following data and reporting may be helpful. CPJ systematically tracks the killing and imprisonment of journalists around the world, and reports on threats and…

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Two people walking in downtown Chilpancingo, in the Mexican state of Guerrero in September 2015. The office of Mexico's Federal Attorney General (PGR) on July 11, 2018, sent an email to the news website Quadratin summoning one of its reporters, Jorge Octavio Vargas Sandoval, for an interview at its regional office in Chilpancingo. (Reuters/Jorge Dan Lopez)

Mexican federal authorities interview reporter as potential trial witness

The office of Mexico’s Federal Attorney General (PGR) on July 11, 2018, sent an email to the news website Quadratin summoning one of its reporters, Jorge Octavio Vargas Sandoval, for an interview at its regional office in Chilpancingo on July 16 in regards to an article he wrote, according to the reporter and the publication’s…

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White nationalist demonstrators clash with counter-demonstrators at the entrance to Lee Park in Charlottesville, Virginia, on August 12, 2017. A Unite the Right rally is planned in Washington, D.C., on the one-year anniversary of the Charlottesville demonstrations. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

CPJ Safety Advisory: Covering Unite the Right rally and counter-protests in Washington, D.C.

Hundreds of protesters are expected to join a “white civil rights rally” in Washington, D.C., on August 11 and 12 to mark the one-year anniversary of the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, which became violent and resulted in the death of one woman. A coalition of local organizations is planning counter-protests in Washington…

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At a national dialogue with President Daniel Ortega in May 2018, a woman holds up a newspaper showing images of people who died in protests in Nicaragua. More media outlets are providing hard-hitting news about the violent crackdown. (AP/Alfredo Zuniga)

In Nicaragua, Ortega’s control over the media slips even as a government crackdown intensifies

Nicaragua’s four-month-old popular uprising has not only weakened President Daniel Ortega’s grip on power: it has eroded his government’s control over the news.

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