Death threat drives Colombian cartoonist Matador offline
During his 15-year career satirizing public figures, Colombia’s best-known editorial cartoonist has made numerous enemies. In his drawings for the Bogotá daily El Tiempo, Julio César González, better known by his pen name, Matador, targets politicians of all stripes.
Turkey convicts Cumhuriyet journalists on terrorism charges
Istanbul, April 25, 2018–An Istanbul court today convicted 14 people affiliated with the independent daily Cumhuriyet of aiding terrorist organizations and sentenced them to jail terms ranging between three and seven years, the newspaper reported. The court placed the journalists on probation and banned them from traveling until the appeals process has ended, according to…
Equatorial Guinea releases from prison journalist Ramón Nsé Esono Ebalé
New York, March 7, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today welcomed news that Equatoguinean cartoonist and blogger Ramón Nsé Esono Ebalé is free from prison after serving more than five months in a Malabo jail on false charges of money laundering and counterfeiting.
Changes to Jordan’s hate speech law could further stifle press freedom
Recently proposed amendments to Jordan’s 2015 cybercrime law, including a vague and broad definition of hate speech, will further stifle press freedom on the pretext of protecting the country’s citizens, and could result in further self-censorship, several Jordanian journalists told CPJ.
Fiscal Blackmail
The Kenyan government withdraws advertising when newspapers step out of line By Alan Rusbridger In some parts of the world, it is still possible to silence a journalist with a sharp blow to the side of the head. But as newspapers the world over struggle with the financial disruption of digital technologies, governments are finding…
Malaysia intensifies harassment of award-winning cartoonist
Bangkok, November 28, 2016―Malaysian authorities should drop all criminal charges against award-winning cartoonist Zulkiflee Anwar Ulhaque, popularly known as Zunar, and cease harassing him for his work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Gado blames government pressure as cartoonist’s contract at Kenya’s Nation ends
For 23 years Godfrey Mwampembwa has been a prominent and quick-witted observer of the political scene in East Africa. But all that changed last month when the cartoonist, known as Gado, was told his contract at Kenya’s biggest newspapers, the Nation, would not be renewed.
China’s overseas critics under pressure from smear campaigns, cyber attacks
“I think my actions … have harmed the national interest. What I have done was very wrong. I seriously and earnestly accept to learn a lesson and plead guilty,” said Chinese journalist Gao Yu during a televised confession on the state-run channel CCTV in May 2014.