Blocked

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How Turkey silences journalists online, one removal request at a time

On June 19, Abdülhamit Bilici, the last editor-in-chief of the now-shuttered Turkish paper Zaman, tweeted about the decline of press freedom in his home country. If you can see his tweet, you are probably not in Turkey because it is among the over 1.5 million tweets belonging to journalists and media outlets censored there under…

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At a national dialogue with President Daniel Ortega in May 2018, a woman holds up a newspaper showing images of people who died in protests in Nicaragua. More media outlets are providing hard-hitting news about the violent crackdown. (AP/Alfredo Zuniga)

In Nicaragua, Ortega’s control over the media slips even as a government crackdown intensifies

Nicaragua’s four-month-old popular uprising has not only weakened President Daniel Ortega’s grip on power: it has eroded his government’s control over the news.

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An official on July 29 counts ballots at a polling station in Phom Penh after polls have closed in Cambodia's general election. Cambodia's government blocked news websites ahead of the national election, according to reports. (Reuters/Samrang Pring)

CPJ condemns pre-election news censorship in Cambodia

Bangkok, July 30, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned the Cambodian government’s move to block news websites ahead of yesterday’s national elections and called for an end to the state’s censorship and harassment of the media.

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Election posters hang next to a street in Rawalpindi, ahead of elections on July 25. Pakistan's journalists say retaliation against critical reporting is making them self-censor to try to avoid retaliation. (AFP/Farooq Naeem)

Silence from judiciary over media attacks increases self-censorship, Pakistan’s journalists say

When it comes to the military and the judiciary, Pakistan’s journalists are “between a rock and a hard place,” Zohra Yusuf, of the independent non-profit Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, told CPJ. In recent months the judiciary, which has a history of siding with Pakistan’s powerful military, has remained largely silent amid attempts to censor…

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Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed arrives for a rally in the Oromia region in April, 2018. His government has allowed access to hundreds of websites that had been blocked in the country. (Reuters/Tiksa Negeri)

Ethiopia allows access to over 260 blocked websites

New York, June 22, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today welcomed the Ethiopian government’s decision to allow access to 264 websites, including news outlets and blogs, that were blocked in the country. In a tweet today, Fitsum Arega, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s chief of staff, said that the sites included the diaspora outlets Oromia Media…

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People watch an election rally for President Erdoğan in Mardin, on June 20. An OSCE report released ahead of Turkey's elections highlights the restrictive environment for the press. (Reuters/Goran Tomasevic)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of June 17

Ahead of election, OSCE highlights restrictive media environment In a report on Turkey’s elections this month, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said, “The media landscape is dominated by outlets whose owners are considered affiliated with the government or depend on public contracts.” The report added that Turkey’s constitution “Contains a general…

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Sudan's President Omar Al-Bashir speaks to parliament in the capital, Khartoum, in April. Sudanese authorities are harassing the critical press by censoring news outlets and questioning journalists. (AFP/Ashraf Shazly)

Sudanese authorities prevent papers from distributing, question reporters

Washington D.C., June 18, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Sudanese authorities to stop harassing the press by censoring news outlets, questioning journalists, and revoking reporters’ accreditation.

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Campaign posters for Turkey's elections are seen in Istanbul in June 2018. The press crackdown continues, with more journalists arrested or charged for reporting critically. (Reuters/Osman Orsal)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of June 10

Journalist arrested A court on June 11 ordered Berzan Güneş, a reporter for the pro-Kurdish Mezopotamya news agency, to be arrested pending trial, his employer reported. The indictment accused Güneş of “making propaganda for a [terrorist] organisation” and presented as evidence the journalist’s social media posts, going back to 2014, according to the report. The…

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Journalists work during a demonstration on May 3, 2018, to mark World Press Freedom Day in Islamabad, Pakistan. (Faisal Mahmood/Reuters)

Pakistani authorities disrupt distribution of Dawn newspaper

New York, May 22, 2018–Pakistani authorities should immediately halt any restrictions on the distribution of Dawn newspaper in Pakistan, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Distribution of the newspaper has been disrupted in many parts of the country in recent weeks, Dawn editor Zaffar Abbas told CPJ.

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People attend the YouTube Fanfest in Jakarta, Indonesia, in October 2016. Google released its first YouTube-specific transparency report in May. (Reuters/Beawiharta)

Greater transparency welcome but social media sites should allow independent audits of content takedowns

In recent days, some of the world’s largest tech companies released new transparency reports, opened up their content moderation guidelines, and adopted approaches to fighting pernicious content as they tried to head off government regulation amid concerns about “fake news,” harassment, terrorism and other ills proliferating on their platforms.

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