Surveillance

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An Egyptian uses his phone to record the aftermath of a deadly explosion outside a police headquarters in December 2013. Journalists who use smartphones and messaging apps in their reporting say they are wary of surveillance and trolling under Egypt's press crackdown continues. (AP/Ahmed Ashraf)

How surveillance, trolls, and fear of arrest affect Egypt’s journalists

As Egypt’s crackdown on the press extends to social media and other communication platforms, many journalists say phishing attempts, trolling, software to monitor social media posts, and a draft law that would require registration for social media users are making them think twice before covering sensitive issues.

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Journalists from The Northern Echo newspaper in Darlington, England, are among scores of reporters who have been spied on by British police. New draft regulations would further undermine protection of sources. (AP/Raphael Satter)

Expanded surveillance powers could threaten work of journalists in UK

Brussels, May 5, 2017–The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by news reports that the U.K. government wants to push telecommunication companies to introduce real-time surveillance and the removal of encryption. On Thursday, The Register published leaked draft regulations detailing how telecommunications operators would be required to grant real-time access to individuals under warrant within…

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Quebec police say they monitored journalist’s phone records

The chief of police for the central Canadian province of Quebec on April 10, 2017, acknowledged that provincial police had in 2012 monitored the phone records of Nicolas Saillant, a journalist with the newspaper Le Journal de Québec.

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Right Is Might

We have the laws and institutions to fight attempts at information control By David Kaye Yevgeny Zamyatin’s strikingly original 1920s Russian novel We gets read far less than its canonical English-language descendants, Brave New World and 1984. Yet George Orwell knew of and clearly drew from Zamyatin’s book in creating 1984. The homage-paying is obvious:…

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Supervised Access

North Korea masks deep censorship by admitting foreign reporters By Jessica Jerreat North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un’s absolute grip on the flow of public information and deadly approach to dissent have made the country one of the most brutally censored in the world.

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Disrupting the Debate

Governments use copyright laws and Twitter bots to curb criticism on social media By Alexandra Ellerbeck On July 10, 2016, Ecuadoran journalist Bernardo Abad tweeted that the former vice-president of Ecuador, Lenin Moreno, had not paid income taxes for the year before. A week later, Abad received a message from Twitter saying his account had…

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Theresa May, pictured in Brussels in March 2016. Her government is proposing an Espionage Act under which journalists who obtain leaked information could face lengthy prison sentences. (AP/Virginia Mayo,File)

UK’s proposed Espionage Act will treat journalists like spies

Journalists in Britain are becoming increasingly alarmed by the government’s apparent determination to prevent them from fulfilling their mission to hold power to account. The latest manifestation of this assault on civil liberties is the so-called Espionage Act. If passed by parliament, it could lead to journalists who obtain leaked information, along with the whistle…

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A traveler arrives at New York's JFK airport. Suggestions by the Homeland Security Secretary that passengers be asked for social media passwords would impact journalists. (Reuters/Brendan McDermid)

CPJ calls on Homeland Security secretary to reject password proposal

The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly’s suggestion to a committee hearing that the U.S. could request social media profile and password information as a condition to entering the country. Such requirements would have an impact on journalists by undermining their ability to protect sources and work product,…

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A passerby reads newspapers posted on a bulletin board in Beijing. Some foreign correspondents in China say they are finding it hard to find citizens willing to be interviewed. (AFP/Teh Eng Koon)

In China, sources face harassment, jail for speaking to foreign media

Zhang Lifan is a Beijing-based historian specializing in modern Chinese history. He is also an outspoken critic of the Chinese government who is interviewed regularly by the foreign press–even when it leads to harassment from officials. Last month alone, he was quoted in a New York Times article about the government revising the length of…

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VICE News reporter Ben Makuch is appealing a court order to make him hand over details of his communication with a source. (VICE News)

Surveillance of journalists and court orders puts Canada’s press freedom at risk

On February 6, VICE News reporter Ben Makuch is due to appear in court to appeal an order requesting that he hand over details of his communication with a source. The hearing comes ahead of a day of action being planned in Canada for February 25, when press freedom and privacy activists are due to…

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