Americas

  

New Guatemalan president must work hard to improve press freedom

Conditions for journalists fundamentally unsound just as coronavirus hits New York, March 27, 2020 —Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei has an opportunity to reverse a longstanding trend of obstruction, legal harassment, orchestrated online attacks, and threats of violence against the press, but it will take an unwavering commitment to overcome the failures of past administrations, the…

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Trust deficit: About This Report

With a new president in office, Guatemala has the opportunity to reverse years of declining press freedom after the country’s journalists endured obstruction, legal harassment, orchestrated online attacks, and threats of violence. To win back trust, the administration will need to make a strong commitment to transparency and provide enough resources to combat impunity in…

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Trust deficit: Guatemala’s new president must overcome skepticism to improve press freedom

With a new president in office, Guatemala has the opportunity to reverse years of declining press freedom after the country’s journalists endured obstruction, legal harassment, orchestrated online attacks, and threats of violence. To win back trust, the administration will need to make a strong commitment to transparency and provide enough resources to combat impunity in…

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Trust deficit: ‘The goal was to silence me’

Prensa Comunitaria knows first-hand the risks of covering environmental issues and powerful economic interests. In August 2017, authorities in the eastern Izabal department issued arrest warrants for seven individuals, including two of the news website’s indigenous journalists: Carlos Choc and Jerson Xitumul Morales.

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Government Technology Agency staff demonstrate Singapore's new contact-tracing smartphone app called TraceTogether, as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus on March 20, 2020. Bill Marczak, an expert in cellphone surveillance technology, told CPJ about the implications for journalists as governments ramp up their capacity to monitor citizens in a time of crisis. (AFP/Catherine Lai)

Expert Bill Marczak: What journalists should know about coronavirus cellphone tracking

Governments all over the world have been considering cellphone surveillance to help track and contain the spread of the coronavirus.

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Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is seen in Brasilia on March 20, 2020. Bolsonaro recently passed a provisional regulation restricting access to public records. (Reuters/Ueslei Marcelino)

Brazil restricts access to government information amid COVID-19 emergency

Rio de Janeiro, March 26, 2020 — Brazilian authorities should not use the coronavirus crisis as an excuse to restrict access to government information, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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Ultra-Orthodox Jewish girls wear face masks during celebrations of the Purim festival in Bnei Brak, Israel, on March 10, 2020. CPJ recently spoke with Laura Adkins, an Orthodox Jewish editor at the Jewish Telegraph Agency. (AP/Oded Balilty)

Q&A: Covering the coronavirus outbreak in the Orthodox Jewish community

Before the coronavirus outbreak, Laura E. Adkins edited opinion pieces for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, a syndicated nonprofit wire service that runs articles in Jewish publications. But as the virus has taken root in a number of Jewish communities in the United States and around the world, Adkins, who is based in New York and…

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Bolivarian National Guards use a water cannon to spray disinfectant as a preventive measure against the spread of the new coronavirus, in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, March 21, 2020. (AP/Matias Delacroix)

Venezuelan journalist arrested by special forces following coronavirus coverage

Miami, March 22, 2020 — Venezuelan authorities must immediately release journalist Darvinson Rojas and ensure that the media can cover the coronavirus outbreak in the country without fear of retribution, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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Soldiers wearing face masks are seen in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on March 17, 2020. The Honduran government recently declared a state of emergency over the COVID-19 outbreak, and suspended the right to free expression. (Reuters/Jorge Cabrera)

Honduran government declares state of emergency, suspends right to free expression

New York, March 18, 2020 — Honduran authorities must immediately lift newly imposed restrictions on free expression and let members of the press cover the news freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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Members of the Bolivarian National Guard wearing face masks are seen in Caracas, Venezuela, on March 17, 2020. Journalists have recently been harassed and detained over their reporting on the virus. (AFP/Cristian Hernandez)

Venezuelan authorities arrest, threaten journalists reporting on COVID-19

On March 13, 2020, police in the Venezuelan city of Los Teques arrested Jesús Enrique Torres and Jesús Manuel Castillo, hosts of a news program on local privately owned radio broadcaster La Cima, after they posted a video to Facebook, where they sometimes publish their reporting, about alleged coronavirus cases at a local hospital, according…

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