Japan releases Chinese journalists–China’s up next
It’s not often we at CPJ find ourselves calling on other countries to release Chinese journalists from detention. But that’s just what happened yesterday. Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV contacted us to say that two of their journalists were among a group of 14 arrested by Japanese authorities over a disputed territory in the East China…
Umbrellas cast shadow over ‘open’ trial in China
We cover all kinds of censorship here at CPJ. Recently we documented the cunning application of scissors to prevent readers from accessing China-related articles in hard copy magazines. But it’s been a while since we’ve had chance to write about one favored implement of information control in China: the umbrella.
Election corruption grave threat to Pakistan’s media
“Elections will not be fought, but will be bought,” is a saying being used by political tacticians in Pakistan. Hope for the legitimacy of the country’s first fair transfer of power between two civilian governments with the oversight of unbiased media is disappearing quickly. Billions of rupees are pouring into media outlets through secret sources,…
No right to information in Sri Lanka
You would think that with fighting between government forces and secessionist Tamils finished in May 2009, the Sri Lankan government might ease its grip on public information–information which is really the property of the country’s citizens, not whichever administration happens to be holding political power. In 2004, former President Chandrika Bandaranaike’s cabinet did approve a…
Time to reassess U.S. military counterinsurgency tactics
One year ago, on July 28, 2011, Ahmad Omaid Khpalwak, 25, was killed by American troops during a brutal close-quarters battle with a Taliban suicide squad backed by gunmen. Khpalwak was one of 22 people killed in the hours-long siege on government buildings that included the governor’s office and police headquarters in Tarin Kot, capital…
Viewing the London Olympics coverage from China
Chinese propaganda officials must be thrilled that they’re not responsible for the Olympics coverage in the British papers. Back during the Beijing Games, they worked hard to censor unrest and dissatisfaction in the domestic media. Reports of China’s press freedom and human rights abuses were blocked, the kind of information control idiomatically referred to as…
Stressed out: How should newsrooms handle trauma?
The rampage inside a Colorado movie theater that killed 12 people and injured dozens more is the most recent reminder that a journalist anywhere can face sudden, great emotional stress. Any story involving tragedy–from domestic violence to natural disasters–can inflict an emotional toll on field journalists. The very empathy that makes a journalist a good…
For journalists, danger lurking in your email
This week, Morgan Marquis-Boire and Bill Marczak of the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab provided a disturbing look into the likely use of a commercial surveillance program, FinFisher, to remotely invade and control the computers of Bahraini activists. After the software installs itself onto unsuspecting users’ computer, it can record and relay emails, screenshots, and…
Propaganda officials miss the boat on ‘China’s Katrina’
Chinese journalists are questioning government propaganda due to conflicting reports of the death toll following Saturday’s devastating flooding in Beijing. Like the Wenzhou train crash and the Sichuan earthquake, the tragedy has galvanized mainstream and online journalists–and the official narrative is crumbling under their scrutiny.