Violence against Netherlands’ journalists dims a beacon of press freedom
On a small street off Amsterdam’s bustling museum district, there is no indication of the 2021 event seared into the memories of the Dutch press corps – at least not yet. Authorities have plans to build a memorial near the site where crime reporter Peter R. de Vries was shot on July 6 after leaving…
CPJ joins letter of concern about Kosovo’s banning of Serbian reporter Svetlana Vukmirovic
The Committee to Protect Journalists and 10 civil society organizations wrote to Kosovo authorities on Tuesday, August 1, to request an explanation as to why reporter Svetlana Vukmirovic working for public broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia is not allowed to enter Kosovo to do her work. Vukmirovic has been prevented from entering Kosovo on multiple…
Covering Ukraine: When a Russian missile brought death to a popular pizza restaurant
It is around 7:30 p.m. on June 27 in the Ria Lounge, one of the few restaurants still open in Kramatorsk, a frontline city in eastern Ukraine. Known by regulars as “Ria Pizza” for its signature dish, the restaurant is packed on this summer Tuesday. Locals, aid workers, off-duty soldiers, and journalists have flocked here…
Uganda’s anti-homosexuality law poses free speech fears for journalists
Kuchu Times was founded eight years ago to give voice to Uganda’s LGBTQ+ community. Now, a new anti-homosexuality law is threatening this mission at a time when LGBTQ+ Ugandans are facing beatings and evictions. “People will tell us their stories and ask us not to put them out there, not until it is safer,” Kuchu…
In Georgia, poetry, a prison visit, and a pardon for Nika Gvaramia
On the road to Rustavi Prison #12, where the only journalist jailed in Georgia is still serving out his 3.5-year sentence, Sofia Liluashvili is speaking to me about poetry. Liluashvili is the wife of Georgian journalist Nika Gvaramia, who spent more than a year behind bars before a pardon by President Salome Zurabishvili led to…
‘An accumulation of lies’: Right-wing group La Resistencia stokes anti-press fervor in Peru
Journalist Gustavo Gorriti remembers the days — just a few years ago — when people on the streets of Lima approached him to congratulate him for exposing corrupt government officials, drug trafficking mafias, and human rights abusers. A few even asked him to pose for selfies. These days, though, motorists shout insults at him from…
‘You better shut up’: A Ghana family’s relentless calls for justice
Kamilu Ibrahim Tahidu and his brothers gather every evening outside their family home in Ghana’s capital of Accra. They sit in a circle of plastic chairs and enjoy each others’ company. They pray together. And they never forget that one of them is missing. It’s been over four years since assassins came to their neighborhood,…
CPJ joins statement calling for EU to prioritize media freedom and human rights in relations with Turkey
The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 19 other journalists organizations and press freedom, human rights, and freedom of expression groups in a joint statement on June 28, 2023, urging the European Union to prioritize media freedom and human rights in dealings with Turkey, following May elections in which President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Justice…
CPJ’s support to exiled journalists jumped 227% in 3 years, reflecting global press freedom crisis
Keep closely connected to your homeland and don’t despair: that is advice Syrian journalist Okba Mohammad said he would offer to Afghan journalists who fled after the August 2021 Taliban takeover. Mohammad knows firsthand the challenges of exile. In 2019, he made a new life in Spain after fleeing the Syrian civil war with CPJ’s…