Journalist Safety

Public-interest reporting under threat ahead of critical 2023 elections Quito, June 27, 2023—Political paralysis and spiking crime pose grave threats to press freedom in Ecuador, finds a new report by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) published today. CPJ’s report, “Ecuador on edge,” found the country’s journalists face the prospect of acute violence amid a…

As the Jerusalem correspondent for the Guardian newspaper, Bethan McKernan has spent much of the last year covering the escalating cycle of violence in in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. It feels, she says, like “a slow-motion opening salvo of a new war.”    According to the U.S.-based non-profit Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project…

The Committee to Protect Journalists has been responding to the needs of journalists in India as they confront a range of challenges, from criminal action to online abuse, and learn to navigate an increasingly hostile environment for the press.   Developed in collaboration with TrustLaw—the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s global pro bono service—this guide covers the legal…

In the early hours of February 1, unknown gunmen set fire to an office of Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission and a police station in the country’s southeastern Anambra state. Days earlier, gunmen had attacked and killed soldiers and policemen at checkpoints along a road that connects nearby Enugu and Ebonyi states. The incidents underscored…

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined this week eight civil society groups and press freedom organizations in a letter to the communications working group of the Brazilian transitional government, urging the incoming federal administration to adopt measures to protect press freedom and the safety of journalists. In a meeting with representatives of the working group…

New York, November 1, 2022 – In the decade since the United Nations launched a Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity, no one has been brought to justice in nearly 80% of the 263 cases of journalists murdered in retaliation for their work worldwide, according to the Committee to…

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…

Rising global temperatures are increasing the potential for flooding. Floods can occur not only during heavy rains, but also when ocean waves are being pushed onshore, when snow is melting quickly, or when dams or levees break. Flash floods are particularly dangerous, because they combine the destructive power of a flood with incredible speed. Flooding…

Updated March 20, 2023 Media outlets and journalists are increasingly targeted by sophisticated smear campaigns designed to harm their credibility. Groups coordinate to spread false online content about them or their work, often targeting their social media accounts. Some such groups have undisclosed government backing. Posts often seek to undermine news reports and convince readers…

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 10 other civil society groups and press freedom organizations this week in a letter to all Brazilian presidential candidates, urging them, their political parties, and parties’ coalitions to commit to ensuring that journalists can report safely and freely during upcoming elections in Brazil. In the letter, the organizations highlighted…