CPJ Releases its 2009 Prison Census: Freelance journalists under fire

The Committee to Protect Journalists today released a series of reports on journalists in prison around the globe. One finding reflects changes in the media industry in recent years: freelancers now make up nearly 45% of all journalists jailed worldwide. CPJ found a total of 136 reporters, editors, and photojournalists behind bars on Dec. 1, compared with 125 a year earlier. The worldwide increase was fueled by a massive crackdown in Iran, where 23 journalists are now in jail. China, Cuba, Eritrea and Burma round out the top five nations of jailed journalists.

To see CPJ’s report “Freelance journalists under fire,” click here. CPJ’s web site also features a video report at http://cpj.org/reports/2009/12/video-behind-bars-not-alone-cpj-prison-census.php and graphic depictions of the census at http://cpj.org/imprisoned/2009.php.

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Journalists in the Crossfire... 'Foregoing the Why'

The Washington Post has a good piece on violence against journalists in the Mexican border town of Ciudad Juarez, a gritty industrial city of 1.5 million that has tallied more than 1,300 grizzly homicides already this year. Since 2000, more than 30 Mexican journalists have been slain, and the Committee to Protect Journalists’ Joel Simon calls the border region – where powerful drug cartels are battling for control – ‘ground zero.’ The costs to society are many, including the fact that journalists flee or simply self censor… only exploring the who, what, when and where… but foregoing the why.

To see the WP story, click here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/24/AR2008112402776.html?hpid=topnews

To see CPJ’s recent report on journalists along the Mexican border (“The Disappeared in Mexico”) click here: http://www.cpj.org/americas

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Web 2.0 Arrives at Committee to Protect Journalists

MF-funded Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) unveiled its new Web site this week, with some new bells, whistles and tools that will enable it to reach more people with timely information about defending journalists. Check it out here: www.cpj.org.

You'll notice some a new blog, RSS feeds and some foreign language pages. Key tools for a group working to protect international journalists.

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