‘Like visiting hell’: How an Italian journalist is reporting on COVID-19 from the frontlines

CPJ Europe Correspondent Attila Mong spoke with Stefania Battistini, a reporter for Italian public broadcaster RAI, about her experience covering the coronavirus outbreak in northern Italy, one of the hardest-hit regions in the world. Battistini compared the experience to reporting in a warzone. “The enemy is everywhere and you don’t know how to defend yourself,” she said.

CPJ also spoke with journalists in New York, Puerto Rico, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Russia about the challenges they face covering the pandemic.

Several countries declared states of emergency in March due to the coronavirus outbreak. Hungary and the Philippines mandated prison time for journalists who report “fake news,” Honduras suspended the right to free expression, and authorities in Thailand are now able to pursue charges against reporters for reports deemed incorrect enabled the government to impose restrictions on reporting.

Journalism in the time of coronavirus

• CPJ Emergencies releases a safety advisory on digital security for reporters working remotely
• India’s Uttar Pradesh opens criminal probe into an editor at The Wire for alleged ‘discord’ during COVID-19 lockdown
• Colombian protection unit suspends risk assessments ‘indefinitely’ due to coronavirus
• Brazil restricts access to government information amid COVID-19 emergency
• Ethiopian journalist Yayesew Shimelis detained following COVID-19 reporting
• Belarusian journalist Siarhei Satsuk detained on bribery charges after publishing COVID-19 report
• CPJ joins calls for Kyrgyz president to release journalist Azimjon Askarov amid pandemic
• Iraqi security forces seize journalist’s belongings for allegedly violating COVID-19 curfew
• Iran bans printing of all newspapers, citing spread of coronavirus
• Nigeria imposes harsh restrictions for journalist movement and access, citing coronavirus
• Reporter denied access to Florida governor’s briefing on COVID-19
• Indian Supreme Court denies government request for prior censorship of coronavirus news
• Russian media regulator orders two outlets to take down COVID-19 reports
• CPJ and Internet Society release a joint fact sheet on the importance of encryption to press freedom and the free flow of information
• CPJ and partner organizations call on Council of Europe to protect press freedom amid pandemic

Spotlight

Amid the unprecedented public health threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, CPJ and our global partners launched #FreeThePress campaign, calling on all world leaders to immediately and unconditionally release all journalists imprisoned for their work.

The campaign features a petition and an open letter to world leaders demanding the immediate release of jailed journalists. At least 3,000 people have signed the petition so far. Add your name by clicking here, and join the conversation on social media with the hashtag #FreeThePress.

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On Thursday, CPJ and more than 100 international human rights and civil liberties organizations and consumer groups called on governments not to use the pandemic as a cover to usher in digital surveillance. The letter came just days after CPJ Advocacy Director Courtney Radsch warned of the need for restrictions, oversight, and sunset clauses on surveillance powers in an op-ed for the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

What we are reading

• We Saw NSO’s Covid-19 Software in Action, and Privacy Experts Are Worried — Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai, Vice
• Coronavirus: How China’s using surveillance to tackle outbreak — Joe Tidy, BBC
• One of the internet’s oldest fact-checking organizations is overwhelmed by coronavirus misinformation — and it could have deadly consequences —Paige Leskin, Business Insider
• Press Freedoms in the United States 2019: A review of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker – Sarah Matthews, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
• Bringing Americans Home 2020: A Non-Governmental Assessment of U.S. Hostage Policy and Family Engagement – James W. Foley Legacy Foundation

Beyond the pandemic

• CPJ released a special report on press freedom in Guatemala, where journalists are often targeted with legal and online harassment campaigns
• Journalists in Nigeria spoke to CPJ Senior Africa Researcher Jonathan Rozen about their concerns over a proposed social media bill
• Africa Independent Television team expelled from event featuring Nigerian President Buhari
• Pakistan court overturns murder convictions in Daniel Pearl case
• Exiled Pakistani journalist Sajid Hussain Baloch goes missing in Sweden
• Hamas security forces repeatedly detain Palestinian cartoonist Ismael el-Bozom
• Journalist and RSF correspondent Khaled Drareni imprisoned in Algeria
• Journalist Adnan Rashidi tortured, robbed in Iraqi Kurdistan
• Unidentified attackers shoot at office of Lebanese journalist Shuaib Zakaria
• Myanmar editor faces life in prison for publishing an interview with insurgent group, and separately in the country, the Ministry of Communications and Transport ordered a local mobile provider to block 221 websites, including websites it claimed published “fake news”