Journalists detained, harassed while covering Nigerian election
At least 14 journalists and media workers were detained, harassed, or attacked while covering Nigeria’s presidential and federal elections on February 25. WikkiTimes editor Haruna Mohammed Salisu was among those arrested, and was held until Thursday, when he was released on bail. Those incidents came after political protesters attacked journalist Jonathan Ugbal on February 22,…
CPJ appalled by killing of journalist reporting on Florida shootings
On Wednesday, Spectrum News 13 reporter Dylan Lyons was shot and killed in Orange County, Florida, while covering a separate fatal shooting earlier in the day. Another member of the news crew, photographer Jesse Walden, was critically injured in the shooting, which also killed a 9-year-old girl and injured her mother. Police arrested a 19-year-old…
‘I turned around and said goodbye to Nicaragua’: A bitter freedom for 2 deported journalists
Nicaraguan journalists Juan Lorenzo Holmann and Miguel Mendoza had served more than 500 days of their nine-year prison sentences when guards ordered them from their cells and put them on the buses that would take them to a plane bound for Washington, D.C. Holmann, the publisher of La Prensa newspaper, and Mendoza, a veteran sports…
Nicaragua releases, sends hundreds of political prisoners, 2 journalists to US
Nicaraguan authorities freed and deported 222 political prisoners to the United States on Thursday, including at least two journalists: Juan Lorenzo Holmann Chamorro, publisher of La Prensa, and Miguel Mendoza Urbina, a sports and political commentator. Carlos Martinez de la Serna, CPJ’s program director, said the deportation “brings a sense of relief that they will…
CPJ joins calls for credible investigation into death of Rwandan journalist John Williams Ntwali
CPJ joined about 100 other human rights and press freedom organizations Tuesday in a joint statement calling on the Rwandan government to ensure an “independent, impartial, and effective investigation” into the death of journalist John Williams Ntwali. Authorities said that Ntwali died on January 18 in a traffic accident in the capital city of Kigali….
67 journalists killed worldwide in 2022; Latin America is the deadliest region for the press
The year 2022 was a deadly one for members of the press. At least 67 journalists and media workers were killed, the highest number since 2018 and a nearly 50% increase from 2021, CPJ found in its annual report on killed journalists, released Tuesday. More than half of the killings occurred in just three countries—Ukraine…
Nobel laureate Maria Ressa acquitted of tax evasion in the Philippines
This week marked the fourth anniversary of the murder of Ghanaian journalist Ahmed Hussein-Suale Divela, who was gunned down by unidentified men months after threats by a local politician. Despite Ghanaian leaders’ promises of justice, a 2019 framework for improved relations and the safety of journalists, police assurances of progress, and two arrests, nobody has…
Dozens of journalists harassed, injured amid Peru protests
In Peru, more than 70 journalists have been harassed and attacked since anti-government protests broke out in December, following the impeachment and arrest of former President Pedro Castillo. In one incident on January 7, police officers threatened to kill Aldair Mejía, a photographer for the Spanish news agency EFE who was covering anti-government demonstrations in…
At least 15 journalists on Turkish list of wanted terrorists
On December 30, exiled Turkish journalist Can Dündar revealed that he had been added to the so-called terrorist “gray list,” a database published by the Turkish Interior Ministry that identifies alleged terrorists and offers rewards for their capture. Dündar, who reported on alleged weapon smuggling from Turkey to Syria in 2014, received CPJ’s 2016 International…
Year in review: The most-read press freedom stories of 2022
In 2022, press freedom was under near constant attack. CPJ recorded the highest number of journalists imprisoned globally for their work in 30 years, with 363 imprisoned as of December 1, 2022. Iranian authorities’ arrests of dozens of journalists amid a brutal crackdown on anti-state protests made it the world’s worst jailer of the press….