Features & Analysis

  
A police car is seen in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on March 26, 2020. CPJ recently joined a statement calling on the region's police and politicians to thoroughly investigate threats made against journalists. (Reuters/Jason Cairnduff)

CPJ joins call condemning threats against journalists in Northern Ireland

The Committee to Protect Journalists today joined 20 free expression groups, activist organizations, and journalists in a joint statement condemning recent threats against journalists working for the Sunday Life and Sunday World newspapers in Northern Ireland.

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The European Commission headquarters is seen in Brussels, Belgium, on April 23, 2020. CPJ recently joined a joint letter to the EU calling for reform of the group's defamation law. (Reuters/Johanna Geron)

CPJ joins call for reform of EU defamation law

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 25 other press freedom organizations today in sending a joint letter to the European Commission calling for reforms to European Union law on defamation.

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Supporters of the ruling party are seen in Bugendana, Burundi, on April 27, 2020. CPJ recently joined a letter calling on Burundi to maintain internet access during the elections. (AP/Berthier Mugiraneza)

CPJ joins call urging Burundi to maintain internet access during elections

The Committee to Protect Journalists yesterday joined 30 other rights organizations in a joint letter urging the government of Burundi to ensure that the internet remains accessible before, during, and after the presidential elections scheduled for tomorrow.

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Freelance photographer and videographer Zmnako Ismael (left) is seen covering the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo via Ismael)

Journalists in Iraqi Kurdistan tell CPJ of obstruction and opportunities covering COVID-19

On May 10, Saman Barzinji, the health minister of the Iraqi Kurdistan regional government, announced that the COVID-19 pandemic no longer posed a threat to the region, and that the area would gradually reopen, according to news reports.

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Griselda Triana, the wife of slain journalist Javier Valdez, attends his memorial service at a funeral parlor in Culiacan, In Sinaloa state, Mexico, on May 16, 2017. Triana wrote a letter calling for justice in his case on May 15, 2020, the third anniversary of his murder. (Reuters/Jesus Bustamante)

On third anniversary of his murder, Javier Valdez’s wife calls for justice in open letter

Today, on the third anniversary of the murder of her husband, Mexican reporter Javier Valdez Cárdenas, journalist Griselda Triana wrote an open letter calling for justice and describing the ordeal of her family in the wake of his killing. The letter was published in several Mexican news outlets and by the Committee to Protect Journalists.

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Journalists are seen in London on April 7, 2020. CPJ recently partnered with groups launching surveys to track the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on journalism. (AP/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Surveys seek to understand impact of COVID-19 on journalists

The Committee to Protect Journalists has partnered with the International Center For Journalists and the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University on the journalism safety and press freedom aspects of their joint Journalism and the Pandemic Project, which today launched an online survey to track the COVID-19 pandemic’s global impact on journalism.

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A 3D-printed WhatsApp logo is seen in front of displayed coronavirus disease (COVID-19) sign in this illustration taken March 19, 2020. (Reuters/Dado Ruvic/Illustration)

First Draft’s Aimee Rinehart on fact-checking coronavirus misinformation

While digital communication enables the public to receive critical information about the COVID-19 pandemic in real time, the same tools are enabling an “infodemic” of misinformation that “can hamper an effective public health response and create confusion and distrust,” according to the United Nations.

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A police officer clears shoppers from a market on the first day of lockdown to stop the spread of COVID-19 disease in Monrovia, Liberia, on April 11, 2020. The government says the right to free expression is suspended during the state of emergency. (Reuters/Derick Snyder)

Liberia’s journalists wary as authorities announce new press passes, threaten shutdowns

When the coronavirus arrived in Liberia, local journalists knew what it meant to report on a deadly, infectious disease; six years earlier they had donned personal protective equipment (PPE) to report on the Ebola crisis, Musa Kenneh, the Press Union of Liberia’s secretary general, told CPJ. But this time, Kenneh said, threatening comments from government…

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A National Guard officer is seen in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on March 26, 2020. CPJ recently spoke with several people close to imprisoned journalists in Europe and Central Asia about the challenges of observing Ramadan behind bars. (AFP/Vyacheslav Oseledko)

COVID-19 lockdowns pose challenges for imprisoned journalists observing Ramadan

This year, the Islamic month of Ramadan, which started on April 24 and will continue through May 23, is particularly challenging for Muslim journalists in jail to observe safely, their family members and friends told CPJ.

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A protester holds a national flag during a demonstration against President Daniel Ortega's government in Managua, Nicaragua, on February 25, 2020. YouTube has censored independent Nicaraguan news outlets after copyright complaints from Ortega-owned media. (Reuters/Oswaldo Rivas)

YouTube censors independent Nicaraguan news outlets after copyright complaints from Ortega-owned media

Miguel Mora, director of the independent Nicaraguan news outlet 100% Noticias, oversaw its move online after its television broadcast license was revoked by the government in April 2018. He and his colleagues transferred their archives onto two YouTube accounts and used them to continue documenting the government’s repressive response to escalating protests in the months…

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