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China urged to release Liu Xiaobo
We released this statement after learning that formerly jailed journalist Liu Xiaobo was detained after signing a letter to the government today calling for greater freedoms ahead of the 60th anniversary Wednesday of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The letter was signed by 300 lawyers, writers, scholars, and artists…
Press freedom in the news 11/26/08
There is worldwide coverage today of last night’s International Press Freedom Awards ceremony at the Waldorf-Astoria in mid-town Manhattan. The event, which honored five journalists for their dedication to the cause of press freedom, was covered by The Associated Press. Hector Maseda Gutierrez, who is still imprisoned in Cuba, could not attend the awards dinner…
Celebrating global truth-tellers: CPJ’s IPFAs
As guests mingled at the Waldorf-Astoria for the CPJ International Press Freedom Awards, the sound of gunfire echoed from a video screen–a stark reminder in an elegant environment of the dangers faced by the world press. Familiar names like NBC’s Andrea Mitchell, famed Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein, and Jim Willse, editor of New Jersey’s Star-Ledger,…
From an awardee, behind bars
From his cell in the maximum security Agüica Prison in western Matanzas province, jailed Cuban journalist Héctor Maseda Gutiérrez has written us a letter to accept CPJ’s International Press Freedom Award. In his letter, Maseda Gutiérrez speaks out “for all those who suffer the horror that characterizes despotic and oligarchic government models.” He will be honored on Tuesday. The…
CPJ speaks to NPR about violence in Mexico
CPJ’s Monica Campbell is interviewed today on NPR’s “People and Places” about the recent murder of crime reporter Armando Rodriguez and the worsening situation for Mexican journalists. She is joined by journalist Arturo Chacon.Visit NPR.org to listen to the report.
From the Family of Holli Chmela
CPJ is concerned for the safety of two American journalists, Holli Chmela, 27, and Taylor Luck, 23, who are reported missing in Lebanon. The Chmela family issued the following statement tonight. We are hoping and praying for the safe return of our children, Taylor Luck and Holli Chmela. We wish to thank the State Department and FBI…
U.S. changes course; grants visas to Cuban journalists
On Wednesday, the U.S. State Department announced it decided to issue visas to two Cuban journalists who had previously been denied reentry into the U.S. As a footnote to the transcript of spokesman Sean McCormack’s discussion about the case of Cuban journalists Ilsa Rodriguez Santana and her husband, Tomas Anael Granados Jimenez, which was reviewed…
Q & A: Andrew Berends and Aaron Soffin
CPJ interviewed documentary filmmaker Andrew Berends and producer Aaron Soffin at CPJ’s headquarters in New York. Berends spent 10 days in the custody of Nigeria’s State Security Services in Port Harcourt, from August 31 to September 9. He had been in the country for six months working on his film “Delta Boys.” Soffin worked to get…
Nina Ognianova on silencing the press in Azerbaijan
CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova has a posting on The Guardian’s London-based “Comment is free” blog today about the continued repression of Azerbaijan’s independent press in the run-up to national elections. Read our special report about the dangerous situation for journalists in Azerbaijan, “Finding Elmar’s Killers,” here.Read Ognianova’s post at “Comment is free.”