Articles Written By: Lindsay Ross

Indian authorities prevent Pulitzer-winning Kashmiri journalist Sanna Irshad Mattoo from flying abroad

Indian authorities should allow Kashmiri photojournalist Sanna Irshad Mattoo to travel abroad freely and collect her Pulitzer Prize in New York, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. On Monday evening, immigration officials at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi stopped Mattoo, who was flying to New York to receive the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in a ceremony scheduled for Thursday, according to the journalist who spoke with CPJ by phone. Mattoo, a freelance photojournalist, was part of a Reuters team that won the Pulitzer Prize for feature photography for their coverage…Read more

South African court bans Independent Media outlets from publishing leaked intelligence report

A South African court judgment banning the publication of an intelligence report about alleged U.S. efforts to gather intelligence about South Africa’s ruling African National Congress party must be made public and should be overturned on appeal, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday.  On October 5, Gauteng High Court judge Daisy Sekao Molefe issued a final order banning the Daily News newspaper and Independent Online (IOL) news website from publishing a leaked November 5, 2020 intelligence report marked “secret” by South Africa’s State Security Agency and ordered that all copies of the…Read more

Zimbabwean journalists assaulted, harassed, and blocked from covering events

  • Posted on October 24, 2022
  • /Under Assault
Zimbabwean authorities and ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) should investigate the assaults and harassment of journalists covering events of public interest in the past week, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. “The increasing cases of violence against journalists in Zimbabwe is becoming a serious source of concern and must be strongly condemned,” said Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa program coordinator, in New York. “Press freedom violations and the rising impunity for crimes against journalists should not be tolerated as the country prepares for a general election in 2023.” Between Thursday, October…Read more

Proposed Ugandan legislation seeks to criminalize ‘misuse of social media’

The Committee to Protect Journalists on Wednesday called on Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni not to sign into law a bill that would undermine press freedom by criminalizing speech sent via computer on a broadly defined and vaguely worded range of grounds. On September 8, Uganda’s Parliament passed the Computer Misuse (Amendment) Bill, 2022, which would impose criminal penalties and fines when a computer is used to commit offenses including the unauthorized dissemination of information, ridiculing or demeaning individuals, promoting hostility among groups of people, publishing “malicious” information, and the “misuse of social media,” according to…Read more

Bangladesh authorities arrest siblings of UK-based journalists

Bangladesh authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Nur Alam Chowdhury Pervez and Abdul Muktadir Manu and cease harassing family members of journalists who report from abroad, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. On September 13, officers with the detective branch of the Bangladesh police, in the Noakhali town of the southeast Chittagong division, arrested Nur Alam Chowdhury Pervez, brother of Shamsul Alam Liton, editor of the privately owned United Kingdom-based Weekly Surma newspaper, according to news reports, a report by The Weekly Surma, a Twitter thread by Bangladeshi editor Tasneem Khalil, and a person familiar with the…Read more

South African journalist Karyn Maughan criminally charged over report on former President Zuma

Former South African President Jacob Zuma and his legal team should immediately drop their private criminal prosecution against Karyn Maughan, a reporter with the privately owned News24 site, and allow the press to report on court proceedings without intimidation or fear of reprisal, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. On September 6, Zuma’s legal team notified Maughan in a court summons that it had filed criminal charges against her in connection to her August 10, 2021 News24 report on Zuma’s medical condition, according to multiple news reports, a statement by local press freedom group South African Editors’ Forum, as…Read more

Sierra Leonean authorities fine, suspend licenses of Star broadcasters

Authorities in Sierra Leone should ensure that Star television and radio stations can broadcast news without undue interference, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday.  In mid-August, Sierra Leone’s broadcast media regulator, National Telecommunications Commission, suspended the licenses of privately owned broadcasters Star Radio and Star TV for over two weeks and denied workers access to the broadcasters’ transmitters in Brookfields, a neighborhood in western Freetown, the capital, according to an August 19 commission statement and Philip Neville, the broadcasters’ founder who holds 70% ownership of shares and handles the finances. Neville, who spoke with…Read more

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

It is with great sadness that the CPU Media Trust records the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on 8 September 2022. Her Majesty was a committed supporter of the Commonwealth and the work done by organisations such as the CPU Media Trust and the organisation had a very good working relationship with Buckingham Palace over the years.Showing an ongoing interest in the Commonwealth media, Her Majesty invited delegates to receptions during two of the CPU Conferences over the past 20 years and always showed a keen interest in the workings of…Read more

Four Zimbabwean journalists beaten, forced to delete footage by ruling party supporters

  • Posted on August 30, 2022
  • /Under Assault
 Zimbabwean authorities should investigate the brutal assault of four journalists working for private media outlets, bring the perpetrators to justice, and ensure that party supporters do not attack members of the press covering political rallies, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday.  The reporters assaulted are: Chelsea Mashayaombe, a reporter for online newspaper Zimbabwe DailyPellagia Mpurwa, a reporter for online magazine Technomag Tongai Mwenje, managing editor of news website SportBriefToneo Rutsito, editor of Technomag Around 12:30 p.m. on August 25, the journalists were injured after they filmed a convoy of 20 vehicles of the…Read more

Nigerian journalist Agba Jalingo detained over defamation, cyberattack complaint

Nigerian authorities should drop all investigations into publisher Agba Jalingo, compensate him for his previous unlawful detention, and stop harassing the journalist, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. On August 19, a group of about 15 police officers arrested Jalingo, publisher of the privately owned news website CrossRiverWatch, at his home in Ogudu, in Lagos state, according to Jalingo, who spoke with CPJ via messaging app, CrossRiverWatch editor Ugbal Jonathan, who spoke with CPJ by phone, and a statement by the International Press Centre, a local press group. Officers detained Jalingo at a police…Read more