The Torch is a weekly newsletter from the Committee to Protect Journalists that brings you the latest press freedom and journalist safety news from around the world. Subscribe here.
CPJ joined partner organizations in a joint mission to Hungary, and found that the country’s government has a level of control over the media that is unprecedented for a European Union member state. The mission found that the Hungarian government has pursued strategies to silence the press and delegitimize journalists. CPJ continues to document attacks on the press in Hungary.
In Malta, new charges have been filed in the case of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was brutally murdered over two years ago. Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said he would resign in the new year amid criticism over the government’s handling of her case. CPJ and partner organizations released a joint statement reiterating calls for the investigation into Caruana Galizia’s assassination to be independent and free of political interference. Earlier this year, CPJ spoke with the journalist’s son about the fight for justice in her case.
Global press freedom updates:
- Honduran TV host José Arita shot dead in Puerto Cortés
- Three more journalists arrested by Egyptian security forces
- Several journalists arrested in crackdown in Saudi Arabia
- Demonstrators block entrance to Dawn newspaper in Pakistan, call for staffers to be hanged
- Brazilian electoral court sentences two journalists to suspended jail time for defamation
- CPJ Emergencies released a safety advisory for covering unrest and elections in Algeria
- Iraqi security forces shutter Baghdad office of Dijlah TV broadcaster
Spotlight
This week, CPJ launched its annual #FreeThePress campaign to raise awareness of jailed journalists globally. The campaign will highlight the plight of several journalists via the campaign’s Instagram account.
The first journalist featured is Azimjon Askarov, who has spent nine years behind bars in Kyrgyzstan in connection to his reporting on human rights. CPJ highlighted Askarov’s case at the 2019 International Press Freedom Awards last month, collecting messages of support CPJ will deliver to him in prison. Digital messages can also be sent to the journalist via CPJ’s website. Click here to learn more about the campaign.
What we are reading
- When a crusading Maltese journalist was murdered, her sons vowed justice. Almost miraculously, it’s happening. — Margaret Sullivan, The Washington Post
- The Disinformation Issue — Columbia Journalism Review
- #GrabYourKeyboards: Inside Pakistan’s Hashtag Mills — Ramsha Jahangir and Shaheryar Popalzai, Dawn
- These Reporters Rely on Public Data, Rather Than Secret Sources — Marc Tarcy, The New York Times
- These journalists have confounded China’s massive propaganda machine — Fred Hiatt, The Washington Post
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