How Sri Lanka’s new president can ease decade of repressive press measures
The stunning defeat of Sri Lanka’s incumbent president Mahinda Rajapaksa by challenger Maithripala Sirisena on Friday has given way to questions about what changes, if any, will come for press freedom in a country that had grown deeply repressive under the previous leadership.
Critical Brazilian blogger shot to death
New York, December 26, 2014–Brazilian authorities must thoroughly investigate Tuesday’s murder of a Brazilian blogger and bring those responsible to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Marcos de Barros Leopoldo Guerra, who wrote a critical blog in Ubatuba, a city on the northern coast of Sao Paulo state, was shot to death at…
Press in Ukraine still suffering one year after attacks on journalists
A year ago today, the Committee to Protect Journalists reported on the first mass assaults on press freedom in Ukraine, after police were ordered to disperse protesters in the capital, Kiev, and other cities. At least 51 journalists–including local and international reporters–were attacked by police and protesters while covering the early days of the standoff…
Accounting for impunity is obligation for all states
This week, members of UNESCO’s International Programme for the Development of Communication will meet to discuss the director general’s biannual report, which examines the cases of nearly 600 journalists killed around the world from January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2013. The report, and lacklustre response from member states who had been asked to provide…
CPJ calls on Belgium to defend press freedom at Committee of Ministers
CPJ calls on Didier Reynders, Belgium’s foreign minister, to use his country’s presidency at the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe–the largest pan-European human rights watchdog–to defend press freedom in Europe, and address violations by members states. CPJ’s letter highlights press freedom abuses in Azerbaijan, Hungary, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine.
More threats against Pakistan’s Hamid Mir
The well-known and controversial Pakistani television talk show host Hamid Mir survived a murder attempt on April 19, even though he was hit with six bullets–two of which are still in his body. “I can move, I can walk and I can talk, but I am still undergoing physiotherapy and taking medication,” he emailed to…
Press freedom groups urge Russia to probe murders of journalists
On Sunday, which marked the first United Nations-backed International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists, CPJ joined a coalition of international press freedom and human rights groups in urging Russian investigators to serve justice for our murdered colleagues.
Russian actor condemned for wearing press insignia and firing weapons
Russian actor Mikhail Porechenkov has joined basketball star Dennis Rodman, who declared North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un his best friend, and Jennifer Lopez who sang “Happy Birthday Mr. President” to the authoritarian leader of Turkmenistan, on the list of celebrities who have made human rights faux pas.
Duvalier’s death must not mean end of proceedings against dictatorship
The sudden death on October 4 of former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier and the initial information that he would be honored with a state funeral stunned the victims who had filed suit against Duvalier for massive violations of human rights during his regime. It also created an unexpected ripple effect in the press and the social…