Committee to Protect Journalists – Defending Journalists Worldwide.

How CPJ helped journalists in 2024

Protesters and media members in Sidon, Lebanon, carry pictures during an October 26, 2024, sit-in condemning the killings Al Mayadeen television network’s Ghassan Najjar and Mohammad Reda, and Al Manar’s Wissam Qassem, who were killed in an Israeli strike in the southern Lebanese town of Hasbaya. (Photo: Reuters/Aziz Taher)

CPJ drastically stepped up its assistance work in 2024, helping more than 3,000 journalists with financial grants, safety training, and other kinds of support amid rising threats to the media and declining press freedom. In a new feature, CPJ’s Lucy Westcott explains the top five ways CPJ helped journalists around the globe last year. Among the highlights:

CPJ gave $300,000 to three organizations supporting Gaza’s journalists as they cover and endure war: the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism, and Filastiniyat. It also gave grants to Lebanese freedom of expression groups helping journalists escape Israeli bombardment.

CPJ helped to host three online mental health workshops attended by 160 Ukrainian journalists, who learned how to prevent burnout when working in a war zone, how to remain calm while reporting during air raids and explosions, and how to work effectively under shelling.

Ahead of the U.S. election, CPJ trained more than 740 journalists on physical and digital safety, and provided U.S.-based journalists with resiliency and know-your-rights advice through a summer webinar series with partner organizations.

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Iran frees Italian journalist Cecilia Sala

Italian journalist Cecilia Sala was arrested by Iran on December 19, 2024, but her arrest was only made public on December 27. (Screenshot: France 24/YouTube) — Sala, who was in Iran on a journalist visa, was arrested on December 19. (Screenshot: France 24/YouTube)

Freelance Italian journalist Cecilia Sala was freed by Iran and on her way back to Italy on January 8, 2024, after being held for 20 days.

On December 31, CPJ, Reporters Without Borders, and the International Journalism Festival’s organizers called on Iran to release Sala immediately.

Sala was held in the notorious Evin prison for “violating the laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran.” On January 2, Italy’s foreign ministry summoned the Iranian ambassador to demand her release.

Reports suggested that Sala was being held in retaliation for Italy’s detention of a Swiss-Iranian businessman and suspected arms dealer.

“Iran has a long and ignominious history of jailing journalists,” said CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg. “Cecilia Sala’s arrest is a powerful reminder of the daily threats faced by those reporting in and about Iran.”

The Committee to Protect Journalists promotes press freedom worldwide.

We defend the right of journalists to report the news safely and without fear of reprisal.

Journalists Attacked

Myat Thu Tan

MURDERED

Myat Thu Tan, a contributor to the local news website Western News and correspondent for several independent Myanmar news outlets, was shot and killed on January 31, 2024, while in military custody in Mrauk-U in Myanmar’s western Rakhine State.

He was arrested on September 22, 2022, and held in pre-trial detention under a broad provision of the penal code that criminalizes incitement and the dissemination of false news for critical posts he made on his Facebook page. Myat Thu Tan had not been tried or convicted at the time of his death.

The journalist’s body was found buried in a bomb shelter, with the bodies of six other political detainees, and showed signs of torture.

Myanmar’s military junta has cracked down on journalists and media outlets since seizing power in a February 2021 coup.

Learn more about Myat Thu Tan