Editors’ Checklist: Preparing for U.S. protest assignments
Updated June 8, 2020 The following checklist enables commissioners and editors to understand how well prepared journalists and other media workers are as they cover U.S. protests over police violence. For additional safety information, please see CPJ’s Safety Advisory for covering U.S. protests over police violence. Select your staff after considering: As part of your…
In rare letter, CPJ board calls on U.S. local authorities to halt arrests, assaults on journalists
New York, June 5, 2020–The board of directors of the Committee to Protect Journalists today sent a rare letter demanding that U.S. governors, mayors, and police chiefs take immediate action to stop assaults on journalists covering protests across the country. The collective message from some of the world’s leading media figures called on authorities to…
Canadian journalist Anna Slatz arrested in New York City, still in custody
Washington D.C. June 3, 2020—Canadian journalist Anna Slatz, reporter for the independent news website Rebel News, remains in New York custody since being arrested yesterday evening while covering protests, Eitan Gillboord, vice president of operations at Rebel News told CPJ this afternoon. “We call on New York authorities to quickly release Anna Slatz without charges….
Journalist in Ecuador attacked by relative with alleged ties to local government after critical COVID-19 coverage
On April 28, 2020, in Quinindé, Ecuador, journalist Henry Córdova Correa, who works as a news anchor for TV channel UNITV and also presents video news to his 2,942 followers on Facebook, was hit with bricks and a motorcycle helmet by a relative in retaliation for his reporting, sustaining a badly broken leg, the journalist…
Teleamazonas broadcaster attacked with dynamite in Ecuador
Bogotá, June 3, 2020 — Ecuadorian authorities should conduct a speedy and transparent investigation into the explosion at the Teleamazonas broadcaster, and hold those responsible to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. At about 5:15 a.m. on May 31, a stick of dynamite exploded at the entrance of the independent TV station’s office…
Amid COVID-19, the prognosis for press freedom is dim. Here are 10 symptoms to track
By Katherine Jacobsen The COVID-19 pandemic has sent public health officials scrambling, the global economy into shock, and governments everywhere into crisis. It has also reshaped the way journalists work, not least because many authorities in many countries have cited the contagion as a reason to crack down on the news media. Certain dangers will…
Map: Attacks on press freedom during the COVID-19 pandemic
Updated June 22, 2021 CPJ has documented numerous press freedom violations since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, from legislation threatening to censor free speech to arrests of journalists providing the public with vital news about the virus. This map plots violations, verified by CPJ staff, across nearly every region of the world from early…
At least 125 press freedom violations reported over 3 days of U.S. protests
Washington D.C., June 1, 2020– Local and state authorities in the U.S. must stop targeting journalists and media workers covering protests and ensure that the press is exempt from any curfew restrictions, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. “We are horrified by the continued use of harsh and sometimes violent actions of police against…
CPJ Safety Advisory: Covering U.S. protests over police violence
Updated August 26, 2020 There have been hundreds of reported incidents of violence and harassment, as well as arrests, targeting journalists covering ongoing Black Lives Matter protests across the U.S. sparked by the death on May 25, 2020—in police custody—of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man in Minneapolis, Minnesota. These incidents have been documented by CPJ…