Forensic tools open new front for using phone data to prosecute journalists
In a new feature published this week, CPJ’s Consultant Technology Editor Madeline Earp explains how forensic tools open a new front for using phone data to prosecute journalists. A law enforcement agent scrolling through a journalist’s unlocked phone is already a problematic scenario for press freedom. This risk is supercharged by technology that can copy…
Journalist imprisonments reach 30-year high
The number of journalists jailed around the world set yet another record this year, with 363 imprisoned as of December 1, 2022, according to CPJ’s 2022 prison census. This is the highest number CPJ has recorded in the 30-year history of the census, overtaking last year’s record by 20%. The notable increase, led by a…
CPJ and partners call on US to drop charges against Julian Assange
Today, CPJ and 20 other human rights organizations sent a letter to the Biden administration to call for the U.S. Department of Justice to drop its criminal and extradition proceedings against Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, under the Espionage Act and Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. CPJ has been urging the U.S. not to…
Shanghai police target foreign journalists covering anti-lockdown protests
Foreign journalists have been detained and beaten while covering demonstrations in China against the government’s stringent COVID-19 policies, which have been blamed for interfering with firefighters’ efforts to rescue victims of a deadly apartment building fire. On November 27, Shanghai police assaulted Edward Lawrence, a journalist for British public broadcaster BBC, while he was covering…
What CPJ is thankful for in 2022
While this newsletter usually spotlights cases of journalists under attack globally, we wanted to take this week, ahead of the U.S. holiday of Thanksgiving, to reflect on what we have been grateful for this past year. Journalists have inspired us continuously throughout 2022, governments have taken steps to protect press freedom, and justice has finally…
Tonight in New York: CPJ to honor 5 brave journalists at the 32nd annual International Press Freedom Awards #IPFA
Tonight, the Committee to Protect Journalists will honor five remarkable journalists from around the world at CPJ’s 2022 International Press Freedom Awards dinner. This year’s awardees include Cuban freelance journalist Abraham Jiménez Enoa who was strip-searched and handcuffed, interrogated for five hours, and both he and his family threatened over his writings in October 2020….
#FreeAlaa: CPJ calls for release of British-Egyptian journalist Alaa Abdelfattah
Ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27)—which began in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on Sunday, November 6—CPJ joined more than 60 civil society organizations in a letter calling Egyptian authorities to immediately release British-Egyptian blogger and activist Alaa Abdelfattah, who announced an escalation of his hunger strike in prison, “and all those arrested and…
#EndImpunity: Vast majority of journalists’ murderers go free
No one has been held to account for nearly 80% of journalist murders during the last 10 years, CPJ’s 2022 Global Impunity Index found, and governments show little interest in tackling the issue. Somalia remains the worst offender on the index for the eighth straight year. Syria, South Sudan, Afghanistan, and Iraq, respectively, round out…
New US Justice Department guidelines on source protection ‘an important step to protect press freedom’
On Wednesday, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the revision of the Justice Department’s regulations to restrict federal prosecutors’ ability to obtain journalists’ phone and email records in government leak investigations with narrow exceptions. The Department of Justice said this decision codifies Garland’s July 2021 policy change to extend the protections. “This is an important…
#EndImpunity: Maltese court sentences hitmen to 40 years each for role in assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia
A Maltese court sentenced brothers Alfred and George Degiorgio to 40 years each on October 14, following their guilty plea for their role as hitmen in the assassination of Malta’s leading investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017. Representatives from CPJ, Article 19 Europe, the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom, the European Federation…