Jordan issues ban on media coverage of royal family dispute
New York, April 6, 2021 – Jordanian authorities should allow journalists and media outlets to report freely on all issues, and should rescind a ban on coverage of a dispute within the royal family, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. “Whenever there is a hint of a sensitive story, Jordanian authorities’ first instinct is…
CPJ calls on US government to give journalists access to border detention facilities
New York, March 23, 2021 — The United States Department of Homeland Security must allow journalists access to detention facilities and Border Patrol activities along the U.S.- Mexico border, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. In recent weeks, D.H.S. and Border Patrol officials have barred all members of the press from entering detention facilities,…
Kazakhstan adopts new accreditation requirements that journalists fear will promote censorship
New York, March 23, 2021 – Kazakh authorities should revise new amendments to the country’s journalist accreditation policies to ensure they do not restrict the freedom of the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On March 11, the Ministry of Information and Social Development adopted amendments to the 2013 Rules of Accreditation of…
Lebanese news website The961 briefly blocked amid currency exchange crackdown
On March 10, 2021, the Lebanese state-run internet service provider Ogero blocked the entire English-language news website The961 for nine hours without warning during a government crackdown on black market money changers, according to the site’s director, who communicated with CPJ by email, and the regional press freedom organization SKeyes Center for Media and Cultural…
Cuban police raid newspaper Páginas Villareñas, confiscate equipment and harass staff
Miami, March 18, 2020 — Cuban authorities should return all equipment confiscated from the Páginas Villareñas newspaper, allow it to publish freely, and cease harassing its staffers, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. In the evening of March 14, agents from the National Revolutionary Police and the Political Police detained reporters Yoandy Cuellar and…
Turkish social media law consolidates news censorship under ‘right to be forgotten’
In late 2020, a Turkish court ruled that the leftist daily Evrensel should remove a news report alleging that a presidential advisor forged their high school diploma. Evrensel complied, Erdi Tütmez, news editor for the outlet told CPJ by email in January; the report was no longer available when CPJ reviewed the site, though it…
Algerian communications minister threatens to withdraw accreditation of France 24 over protest coverage
New York, March 16, 2021 – Algerian authorities should refrain from threatening news outlets over their coverage, and should ensure that French public broadcaster France 24 can operate freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On March 13, Communications Minister Ammar Belhimer issued a statement describing France 24’s coverage of protests and marches the…
Journalist arrested from clinic bed, detained over defamation complaint in Republic of Congo
Dakar, March 16, 2021 — Authorities in the Republic of Congo should immediately release journalist Raymond Malonga and ensure that the press in the country can work without fear of harassment, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On February 2, security officers in plainclothes arrested Malonga, an editor at the privately owned Sel-Piment newspaper,…
At least 3 journalists detained overnight in Yemen, pressured not to cover protests
On February 18, 2021, police in Hadramout Governorate, Yemen, detained at least three journalists and forced at least two of them to sign statements promising not to cover political protests in the region, according to the a statement by the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate, a local press freedom group, and Mohammed al-Yezidi, a local reporter familiar…