Amicus briefs support CPJ’s appeal in Khashoggi lawsuit
Nearly three dozen media and press freedom organizations, as well as 10 major human rights organizations and experts, have signed on to amicus briefs in support of CPJ’s appeal in its lawsuit seeking documents on whether U.S. intelligence agencies knew of threats to Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi before his murder by the Saudi government….
Journalist Patricia Devlin on working in Northern Ireland: ‘I feel vulnerable and I feel threatened’
Over the past two years, crime and paramilitary and sectarian attacks have risen in Northern Ireland, fueled by economic stagnation, a power vacuum in the regional government, and the fallout from Brexit, according to news reports. In this climate, journalists are also increasingly at risk: freelance reporter Lyra McKee was killed in April 2019, and…
Data journalists describe challenges of reporting on the true toll of COVID-19
How many people worldwide have been infected by the coronavirus, and how many have died as a result? Finding reliable information on the virus’s toll has proven such a challenging task that it is nearly impossible to answer these basic questions, five data journalists from around the world told CPJ in May and June. In…
US, UK, Interpol give Ghana phone hacking tools, raising journalist concerns on safety and confidentiality
In May 2019, senior members of Ghana’s law enforcement posed for photos with the U.S. ambassador to their country at a ceremony in the capital, Accra. Between them they held boxes and bags, gifts from the U.S. government to Ghana which, according to one of the recipients, contained Israeli phone hacking technology. That recipient was…
CPJ joins calls in support of OSCE media freedom representative Harlem Désir
The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 28 other press freedom organizations yesterday in a letter expressing support for the renewal of the mandate of Harlem Désir, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Representative on Freedom of the Media. Désir’s mandate is set to expire on July 19; renewing his position for another three…
US intelligence community should explain document denial in Khashoggi case, CPJ lawsuit argues
The U.S. intelligence community should confirm or deny the existence of documents that may provide information on its awareness of threats to the life of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, the Committee to Protect Journalists argued in a brief submitted yesterday to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Khashoggi, a Saudi…
Independent media advocate and journalist tell of challenges covering Belarus’s upcoming elections and coronavirus
As Belarus’s August 9, 2020, presidential election nears with President Aleksandr Lukashenko vying to remain in power after 26 years in office, press freedom advocates say Belarusian authorities are cracking down on journalists and government critics. Over three days starting June 25, Belarusian authorities arrested several popular bloggers: Ihor Losik, Serhei Petrukhin, Aleksandr Kabanau, Volodimir…
EUobserver reporter Eszter Zalan on covering the EU amid coronavirus, disinformation, and economic crisis
Eszter Zalan is a correspondent for the Brussels-based EUobserver. She covered conflict and war zones for Népszabadság, the now-shuttered Hungarian daily, for several years, and covered Hungary for Agence France-Presse, before joining EUobserver in 2015. Recently, she has reported on EU affairs, including Brexit, Hungary, and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. CPJ spoke with Zalan via…
CPJ joins call to strengthen EU legislation on dual-use technologies
Yesterday, the Committee to Protect Journalists joined seven other human rights and free expression groups in writing a letter to European Union Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan, requesting that human rights provisions be included in draft EU legislation concerning the exports of technology products such as surveillance software, which could be used for both civilian and…
Map: Attacks on press freedom during the COVID-19 pandemic
Updated June 22, 2021 CPJ has documented numerous press freedom violations since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, from legislation threatening to censor free speech to arrests of journalists providing the public with vital news about the virus. This map plots violations, verified by CPJ staff, across nearly every region of the world from early…