Shazdeh Omari
Shazdeh Omari is CPJ's news editor. Former copy chief for The Village Voice, she has worked as a reporter and editor in the United States and Greece. Omari was born in Saudi Arabia and raised in Karachi, Pakistan, where she learned to read, speak, and write Urdu.
CPJ Newsletter: ECOSOC accepts our application, we announce IPFA winners, and more!
August edition Pentagon updates Law of War Manual to recognize journalists’ role in covering conflict Frank Smyth, CPJ’s security consultant, was stunned when he read the newly released Law of War Manual from the U.S. Department of Defense in June 2015. The manual included language that allowed journalists to be categorized as “unprivileged belligerents,” which…
CPJ International Press Freedom Awards 2016
CPJ’s annual International Press Freedom Awards and benefit dinner honored courageous journalists from around the world on November 22, 2016, in New York City. (Courtesy of CBS) Profile videos and speeches by the 2016 awardees are available: Malini Subramaniam: video profile and speech Mahmoud Abou Zeid (Shawkan): video profile Can Dündar: video profile and speech…
Mahmoud Abou Zeid, Egypt
Mahmoud Abou Zeid, a freelance photographer also known as “Shawkan,” was detained on August 14, 2013. The journalist was covering clashes between Egyptian security forces and supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi during the dispersal of the pro-Morsi sit-in at Raba’a Al-Adawiya Square in Cairo. After Morsi’s ouster on July 3, 2013, the military-supported government…
Óscar Martínez, El Salvador
Óscar Martínez is the co-founder, coordinator, and reporter for “Sala Negra” (Black Room), the investigative unit that covers gang violence for Central America’s first online-only newsmagazine El Faro (The Lighthouse). After working as a freelance reporter in Mexico, Martínez joined El Faro in 2008 to help carry out an in-depth investigation of Central American migration…
Malini Subramaniam, India
Malini Subramaniam, a contributor to the news website Scroll.In, was among the few journalists reporting from the Bastar area in the state of Chhattisgarh–the epicenter of the conflict between Maoist and security forces–until early 2016. Most journalists work in Chhattisgarh temporarily and are based in safer areas like the state capital, Raipur. In contrast with…
Can Dündar, Turkey
Can Dündar, chief editor of the Turkish daily newspaper Cumhuriyet, was arrested along with his colleague, Erdem Gül, on November 26, 2015, on charges of disclosing state secrets, espionage, and aiding a terrorist group. The two spent 92 days in custody before being released, pending trial, on February 26, 2016. The charges relate to a…
Christiane Amanpour
Christiane Amanpour was honored with the Burton Benjamin Memorial Award for her extraordinary and sustained achievement in the cause of press freedom on November 22, 2016. The text of Amanpour’s acceptance speech, as prepared for delivery, is below. I never in a million years thought I would be up here on stage appealing for the…
Journalist freed in Turkey, some must-reads for June, RIP Bill Cunningham
CPJ Newsletter: July edition CPJ campaigns for Mauritanian blogger CPJ has been working actively, including behind the scenes, to secure the release of Mohamed Cheikh Ould Mohamed, a Mauritanian blogger who has been sentenced to death on charges of apostasy.
Leadership Council
CPJ’s Leadership Council is made up of about 40 of CPJ’s most generous and committed supporters. The president of the council is Karen Amanda Toulon, Global Broadcast project manager at Bloomberg News. Toulon is also a member of CPJ’s board of directors. Members of the Leadership Council provide advice to CPJ’s staff and board members,…
Advisory Groups
CPJ has established advisory groups for its programs. The groups, which are made up of leading journalists, experts, and press freedom advocates, provide feedback on CPJ programs’ key advocacy proposals and strategies. The groups’ members also advise CPJ staff on how to achieve greater impact and help CPJ gain access and increase outreach in countries…