Media Freedom

CPJ concerned about Pakistan media court initiative

Pakistan’s federal cabinet has approved an initiative to establish specialized courts aimed at resolving media-related issues, the government announced yesterday, according to news reports. The proposal drew swift condemnation on social media from human rights and press freedom organizations. “The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned that Pakistani authorities are moving forward with this vague plan to establish specialized media courts, despite an outcry from local journalists,” said Steven Butler, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “Instead, Pakistan needs to strengthen the nation’s democracy by freeing newspapers and broadcasters from the intense official pressures they already face.” The courts would…Read more

TV news channels blocked in Pakistan after airing opposition speeches

Pakistan authorities should immediately unblock broadcasts of privately owned news channels Capital TV, 24 News HD, and Abtak News 247, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Yesterday, Capital TV posted a notice on Twitter stating that the three channels' transmissions had been blocked by the country's broadcast regulator, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority. Later that day, the Pakistan Broadcasters Association, a private industry association, issued a statement saying that the channels had been taken off air by the regulator without being given a reason or a hearing. The move came after the channels aired speeches…Read more

Two Ghanaian journalists arrested and interrogated, one allegedly tortured in custody

Ghana's Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice should immediately launch an independent investigation into the arrests of Modern Ghana editor Emmanuel Ajarfor Abugri and reporter Emmanuel Yeboah Britwum and security forces' alleged torture of Abugri, and hold those responsible to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On June 27, in Accra, the capital, Ministry of National Security officers arrested Abugri and Britwum at the offices of their employer, the privately owned news website Modern Ghana, interrogated them at Ministry of National Security offices, and confiscated their laptops and phones, according to Britwum, who…Read more

UK Home Secretary gives green light to extradite Julian Assange to the US

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is deeply concerned by UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid’s decision to sign a request by the US to extradite Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, giving the court the green light to consider the request. RSF reiterates its call on all relevant authorities to prioritise the protection of the role of journalism, including journalistic sources, in their treatment of Assange. On 13 June, UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid signed a request by the United States to extradite Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who has been indicted in the US on 18 charges related to…Read more

Ugandan editor charged with criminal libel and ‘offensive communication’

Authorities in Uganda should end the criminal proceedings against Pidson Kareire, managing editor of privately owned news website The Drone Media, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On June 12, police in the capital, Kampala, arrested Kareire on charges, filed on April 30, of four counts of criminal libel and four counts of "offensive communication," according to the journalist's lawyer, Daniel Walyemera, who spoke to CPJ, and a charge sheet seen by CPJ. The charges stem from The Drone Media's reporting on a local recruitment firm, Middle East Consultants Limited, according to Walyemera and…Read more

Police raid Australian Broadcasting Corporation headquarters, seize documents over Afghanistan reports

The Committee to Protect Journalists strongly condemns the Australian Federal Police raid on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation headquarters in Sydney today and called on authorities to immediately return any documents or other property seized. In a statement, police said the raid was related to an investigation into the publication of classified material, and was not related to yesterday's raid of Sunday Telegrapheditor Annika Smethurst's home in Canberra. "The raids on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation newsroom and the home of reporter Annika Smethurst are deeply troubling and directly threaten Australia's standing as a country that respects press freedom,"…Read more

World’s Press Calls on the United Kingdom to Address Press Freedom Concerns.

The Board of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), meeting in Glasgow, Scotland on 3rd June, 2019 on the occasion of the 71st World News Media Congress, 26th World Editors Forum and 3rd Women in News Summit, has called on the government of the United Kingdom to address a number of critical press freedom challenges that threaten UK media and risk undermining recent international efforts to prioritise media freedom. “We deplore the 18th April killing of journalist Lyra McKee,” said the WAN-IFRA Board in one of six Press Freedom Resolutions…Read more

Dates for the London Global Conference for Media Freedom announced

In a series of publicity videos for World Press Freedom Day, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has announced the dates for the first Global Conference for Media Freedom on 10 – 11 July, in London. In a statement released on his Twitter page this morning, Hunt urged: “If we believe in media freedom as one of the fundamental bastions of a free society then we need to stand up and talk about the dangers that journalists now face.” The UK and Canadian government have announced a partnership, with Chrystia Freeland, Canadian Minister of Foreign…Read more

Only nine percent of humankind lives in a country where press freedom is good

On World Press Freedom Day, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) points out that less than ten percent of the world’s population is now living in countries where journalists enjoy a favourable environment and are able to practice their profession freely and independently. Only 9% of humankind lives in a country where RSF regards the level of press freedom as either good or satisfactory – a country coloured either white or yellow on the World Press Freedom Map that is derived from the 2019 World Press Freedom Index unveiled by RSF on 18 April. Seventy-four percent of…Read more