Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of January 22
Diaspora news website censored before publishing The bilingual German-Turkish news website Özgürüz (“We Are Free”), which is edited by exiled Cumhuriyet editor Can Dündar, reported that Turkish authorities had blocked access to the website 12 hours before it published its first story today. The website said it believed ozguruz.org made censorship history as the first…
CPJ Safety Advisory: Trolls and online abuse
Today the Committee to Protect published a blog post detailing increased online harassment to journalists in the United States. Trolling and online abuse of journalists and bloggers, however, is a global threat. At a time when use of Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms are a job requirement for media workers, trolls have become…
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of January 15
Newspaper distributor says security officers abducted, beat him Barış Boyraz, a former distributor for the shuttered Kurdish-language daily Azadiya Welat, told the daily newspaper Evrensel that men he believes to be plainclothes police on December 17, 2016, abducted him from the streets of Ankara and beat him.
CPJ Safety Advisory: Covering the US presidential inauguration and protests
The inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on January 20, 2017, is expected to draw thousands of protesters to Washington, D.C. Journalists from across the United States and the world will cover the ceremony and the protests planned around it. The Emergencies Response Team (ERT) at the Committee to Protect Journalists has issued the following…
Mexican police attack journalists covering protests
Mexico City, January 12, 2017–Mexican police should quickly and credibly investigate reports that police threatened and attacked journalists covering protests last week and should swiftly bring to justice officers found to have assaulted reporters, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Hong Kong journalists try range of models to battle press freedom challenges
A new Chinese-language website pledging to provide Hong Kong with “independent, accurate and fair” news is the latest journalism venture to open in the city, in an attempt to counter increasing Chinese control of the media. Citizen News was launched January 1 by a group of journalists, including Kevin Lau Chun-to and Daisy Li Yuet-wah,…
Speaker of Chechen parliament threatens journalist Grigory Shvedov
New York, January 9, 2017–Russian federal authorities should ensure the safety of Grigory Shvedov, the editor of the independent news website Kavkazsky Uzel (Caucasian Knot), and should hold accountable Magomed Daudov, the speaker of Chechnya’s parliament, for publicly threatening the journalist, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Gunmen shoot at home of Mexican reporter
Unidentified assailants attacked the home of Mexican journalist Gabriel Valencia Juárez at about 10:15 p.m. on December 31, 2016, according to media reports. Valencia, who was inside at the time of the attack, was only a meter from where one of the 9mm caliber bullets struck a piece of furniture, the reports said.
Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of January 1
Jailed investigative journalist held in isolation Investigative journalist Ahmet Şık has been kept in isolation in prison and denied basic rights since his arrest last week, according to reports that cited his lawyer. Sık, who was detained December 29 on allegations of spreading terrorist propaganda, was kept at Metris Prison in Istanbul for three days…