Asia

  
Afghan policemen search passengers at a checkpoint in Helmand province on December 17, 2017. A journalist in Helmand was recently injured by a car bomb in an assassination attempt. (Noor Mohammad/AFP)

Afghan journalist wounded in assassination attempt

New York, March 12, 2019 — The Committee to Protect Journalists urged Afghan authorities to swiftly investigate the attempted assassination of journalist Nisar Ahmad Ahmadi in Helmand province today and bring the perpetrators to justice.

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The Intermediate People's Court in Tianjin, in December 2018. By law, court verdicts should be posted online, but in reality few rulings are made public. (Reuters/Thomas Peter)

How many journalists are jailed in China? Censorship means we don’t know

Reporting on China’s harassment of journalists has never been easy. Lately it’s been getting much harder, which suggests that conditions for the press could be worsening. At least 47 journalists were jailed in China at the time of CPJ’s 2018 prison census and I am investigating at least a dozen other cases, but the details…

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A screenshot of The Shillong Times. The Meghalaya state High Court fined the paper's publisher and editor over an opinion piece published in December. (CPJ)

Indian court issues fine, threatens jail time over opinion piece

New York, March 11, 2019 — The Committee to Protect Journalists today strongly condemned a fine imposed by the Meghalaya state High Court on the publisher and editor of Meghalaya-based daily The Shillong Times.

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Television journalists are seen outside the premises of the Supreme Court in New Delhi, India, August 22, 2017. The Indian government threatened to invoke Official Secrets Act against two news outlets on March 6, 2019. (Reuters/Adnan Abidi)

Indian government threatens to invoke Official Secrets Act against news outlets

The government of Narendra Modi, through Attorney General K K Venugopal, on March 6, 2019, threatened to invoke the Official Secrets Act against daily newspaper The Hindu and news agency Asian News International (ANI) for critical reporting on a fighter jet deal in which the government has been accused of corruption, according to news reports.

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On International Women’s Day, CPJ highlights jailed female journalists

On International Women’s Day, CPJ has highlighted the cases of female journalists jailed around the world in retaliation for their work. At least 33 of the 251 journalists in jail at the time of CPJ’s prison census are women. At least one of those–Turkish reporter and artist Zehra Dogan–was released in February after serving a…

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People read local newspapers in Yangon, Myanmar, on January 30, 2017. Two journalists working in Kachin stat were recently detained and assaulted by a local mining company there. (Thein Zaw/AP)

Myanmar journalists held, assaulted by mining company over news coverage

Bangkok, February 28, 2019 — The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned the harassment, detention, and assault of two journalists in Myanmar on February 26 and called on the country’s authorities to thoroughly investigate the case and hold those responsible to account.

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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump at dinner in Hanoi on February 27. The White House blocked four journalists from covering the event. (AFP/Saul Loeb)

White House setting wrong example at Trump-Kim summit in Hanoi

Washington, D.C., February 27, 2019–The White House today barred four journalists from covering a dinner in Hanoi between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, citing “sensitivities over shouted questions,” according to news reports. The unusual move came a day after Vietnamese officials relocated the White House press corps filing center from…

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A Kashmiri man reads a newspaper in Srinagar on August 31, 2018. The Kashmiri state government recently removed lucrative advertising from two leading dailies in the region. (Dar Yasin/AP)

Jammu and Kashmir government pulls advertisements from two major newspapers

New Delhi, February 26, 2019–The state government of Indian-controlled Jammu and Kashmir should reinstate its advertisements in two major local newspapers or provide an acceptable explanation concerning its decision not to do so, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The administration of Governor Satya Pal Malik, who runs the state government after the local…

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Voters line up at a polling station in Sukma in Chhattisgarh state on November 12, 2018. The state's newly elected state minister is setting up a committee to draft a journalist safety law. (AFP)

Chhattisgarh’s plan for journalist safety law could be template for all India

Every day for two years, freelance journalist Santosh Yadav must walk the 50 or so yards from his home to the Darbha village police station in Bastar, Chhattisgarh, to sign a register. Just one missed day could immediately land him back in prison as he awaits trial on anti-terror charges. A police commander said that…

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Voice TV station staff work in the newsroom in Bangkok, Thailand, on February 13, 2019. The TV station saw its broadcast license suspended by regulators in the run-up to the country's elections in March. (Sakchai Lalit/AP)

CPJ condemns 15-day ban on Thai TV news station

Bangkok, February 13, 2019–The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned the decision by a Thai media regulator to suspend the broadcasting license of Voice TV for 15 days and called on the country’s military government to allow all media to report freely on the nation’s politics.

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