CPJ, 47 rights organizations call on Ethiopia to end internet shutdowns
The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 47 human rights organizations in an April 27 letter calling on Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to ensure unfettered internet and digital communications access. The letter expressed alarm at the weaponization of internet shutdowns in the country, highlighting several recent disruptions, including on April 3 when authorities blocked access…
Mahoney: UN can help journalists beyond World Press Freedom Day
New York, May 1, 2023–Evan Gershkovich and Jimmy Lai are about to spend World Press Freedom Day behind bars. Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal Moscow correspondent, and Lai, a pro-democracy Hong Kong media magnate, are among record numbers of journalists in prison as the United Nations marks the 30th anniversary of its special day for…
CPJ joins call for Turkey’s internet authority to protect end-to-end encrypted services
The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 26 human rights, press freedom, and internet freedom organizations in urging Turkey’s internet regulator Communication Technologies Authority (BTK), to protect end-to-end encrypted services in light of recent legislation. In October 2022, Turkey’s parliament passed a 40-article bill that included amendments providing more detail about the existing obligations of social…
Russian authorities outlaw independent outlet Meduza
Paris, January 26, 2023 — Russian authorities should let the independent news website Meduza work freely and should cease banning outlets and labeling them as undesirable organizations and foreign agents, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. On Thursday, January 26, the Russian general prosecutor’s office declared the activity of the Medusa Project, the news…
Armenian draft legislation would give government sweeping wartime censorship powers
Stockholm, January 19, 2023 – Armenian authorities should not use military conflicts as an excuse to curtail press freedom and should rework clauses in a draft bill that would threaten press freedom, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. On January 6, the public comment period closed for a bill drafted by the Ministry of…
CPJ: Kyrgyzstan’s block of RFE/RL website ‘a flagrant act of censorship’
Stockholm, October 27, 2022 – Kyrgyzstan’s Ministry of Culture, Information, Sports, and Youth Policy on Wednesday announced a two-month block of the website of Radio Azattyk, the local service of U.S. Congress-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, under the country’s false information law after the outlet refused to remove a video report on recent border…
CPJ submits reports on Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco to United Nations Universal Periodic Review
The human rights records of Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco are under review by the United Nations Human Rights Council through the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). This U.N. mechanism is a peer-review process that surveys the human rights performance of member states, monitoring progress from previous review cycles, and presents a list of recommendations on how a…
New Report: Spyware poses an existential crisis for journalism and threatens press freedom around the world
New York, October 13, 2022 — The development of high-tech “zero-click” spyware – the kind that takes over phones without a user’s knowledge – has had a chilling impact on press freedom, finds a new special report released today by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The report, Zero-Click Spyware: Enemy of the Press, found the mere threat…
MEDIA ADVISORY: CPJ to publish comprehensive report on the threat to journalism posed by zero-click spyware
New York — On Thursday, October 13 the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) will publish a report on the global impact of malicious spyware on journalism. Coming one year after the Pegasus Papers first shed light on the scale and scope of how one company’s software was weaponized by government officials to target journalists, the…
U.S. midterm election 2022: Journalist safety kit
The U.S. midterm elections will be held on Tuesday, November 8, 2022, in an increasingly polarized political climate. During this midterm election year, all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 35 of the 100 seats in the Senate will be contested. Online abuse and digital threats to journalists have been steadily increasing, as…