Journalists threatened in sectarian violence in Burma
Bangkok, March 25, 2013–Violent mobs have threatened journalists covering communal riots in central Burma and destroyed their reporting materials, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on authorities to make the security of journalists working in the violence-hit area a top priority.
Do news blackouts help journalists held captive?
At any given time over the past two years, as wars raged in Libya and then Syria, and as other conflicts ground on in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, a number of journalists have been held captive by a diverse array of forces, from militants and rebels to criminals and paramilitaries. And at any given…
As censorship wanes, cyberattacks rise in Burma
Cyberattacks on news websites and apparent government hacking into journalists’ email accounts have raised new questions about the integrity of media reforms in Burma. The New York Times reported on Sunday that several journalists who regularly cover Burma-related news recently received warning messages from Google that their email accounts may have been hacked by “state-sponsored…
Israeli soldiers obstruct journalists during eviction
New York, January 15, 2013–Israeli soldiers prevented journalists from covering the eviction of a Palestinian campsite in the West Bank on Sunday, according to news reports and local press freedom organizations. The journalists worked for international news outlets including The Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, CNN, and Al-Jazeera, as well as local media including Raya…
Gambia’s NIA harasses, detains journalist without charge
Abuja, Nigeria, January 9, 2013–Gambian authorities should immediately release Abdoulie John, a journalist who has been detained without charge in Banjul since Monday, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. John has been harassed by the Gambian National Intelligence Agency since early December, news reports said. John, editor of the online news website Jollof News…
Four Palestinian journalists assaulted by Israeli soldiers
New York, December 14, 2012–Israeli soldiers assaulted four Palestinian journalists and forced them to strip naked at a checkpoint in the West Bank city of Hebron on Wednesday, according to news reports. Two of the journalists worked for Reuters, and two for local Palestinian news outlets, the reports said.
In Gaza, news outlets targeted, journalists injured
New York, November 19, 2012–Israeli authorities must immediately halt airstrikes targeting news media offices in the Gaza Strip, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today following a series of strikes that injured at least nine journalists and damaged several offices.
At Bayeux, war correspondents stress duty to report
Syria and Libya were the main themes at the 19th edition of the Bayeux-Calvados Prize for War Correspondents, which took place this weekend in the historical city of Bayeux, a few miles away from the Normandy beaches where Allied forces landed in June 1944 to liberate Europe from the Nazi yoke.
AP, Reuters journalists beaten, detained in Belarus
New York, September 18, 2012–Authorities in Belarus must immediately investigate the attack and detention of at least seven journalists reporting on a protest in downtown Minsk today and bring the perpetrators to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said.Agents in plainclothes repeatedly hit several journalists covering an opposition protest organized by activists calling for a…
China ducks questions about Al-Jazeera expulsion
“The Beijing branch of Al-Jazeera is still functioning normally.” This was not an auspicious reaction to the news that Al-Jazeera English has closed its Beijing bureau after being refused journalist visas. Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesman Hong Lei’s responses at today’s press conference did not improve from there, according to a partial transcript published by…