The Torch

Michael Pack, head of the United States Agency for Global Media, which oversees Voice of America and several other outlets, has decided to ignore a bipartisan request to testify in front of the House Foreign Affairs Committee about the dangers journalists face under his leadership. CPJ spoke with former VOA staffer Al Pessin about how…

An increasingly militarized police presence at protests across the United States creates a dangerous reporting environment, journalists told CPJ. Those covering unrest in the U.S. are encouraged to consult CPJ’s new legal guide, which explains the rights of journalists when confronted by law enforcement while covering a protest or political event. Female journalists in Pakistan…

Australian journalists Bill Birtles and Mike Smith fled China for Australia after China lifted a travel ban that barred both journalists from leaving the country. Separately, Chinese authorities imposed new restrictions targeting journalists at U.S. news organizations in China. In Belarus, police continued to arrest and obstruct journalists covering protests. Since protests began in August,…

Read and subscribe to The Torch newsletter: CPJ disappointed by verdict in trial for murder of Slovak journalist Ján Kuciak; In Iran, 2020 press freedom awardee sentenced to more than 4 years in jail; Journalist Chin’ono released on bail in Zimbabwe

India recently banned the social media app TikTok, and President Donald Trump has issued an order saying the U.S. will follow suit should the app remain Chinese-owned. CPJ’s consultant technology editor, Madeline Earp, analyzed how the move could have implications for press freedom, particularly by normalizing bans with far more direct consequences for the news…

Belarusian journalist Alena Scharbinskaya spoke to CPJ from the hospital about her traumatic experience being arrested during protests in the country, and the severe beatings she endured in a Minsk detention center. She was among dozens of journalists detained and beaten by security forces since protests broke out throughout the country. “I am not frightened…

The impact of Hong Kong’s new security law was felt by journalists this week with the police raid of the Apple Daily newsroom and arrests intended “not just to thwart [the founder Jimmy] Lai and his media group, but to intimidate Hong Kong’s entire community of journalists,” wrote CPJ’s Asia Program Coordinator Steven Butler in…

One year after the Indian government revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s limited governing autonomy, Kashmiri journalists told CPJ Senior Asia Researcher Aliya Iftikhar about new tactics authorities are using to censor the media. Press freedom has deteriorated drastically, with a rise in harassment, ongoing communication restrictions, increased surveillance, and a proposed new media policy that would be a “nail in the coffin” for media in Kashmir….

The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, of which CPJ is a co-founding member, has received more than 600 reports of aggressions against the press during the nationwide Black Lives Matter protests. Last week, CPJ called on all U.S. law enforcement to stop using aggressive tactics against journalists covering protests, including in Portland, where U.S. federal law…

On Thursday, CPJ Advocacy Director Courtney Radsch, CNN Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour, and David Kaye, the U.N. special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, testified about threats to press freedom in the United States at the Congressional Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, better…