Committee To Protect Journalists Inc

Programs: Cpj operates six regional programs that cover africa, north america, south and central america, asia, europe and central asia, and the middle east and north africa and are led by experts from all over the world who report daily on press freedom abuses. Our staff hails from a variety of countries including afghanistan, argentina, bulgaria, cameroon, canada, colombia, egypt, india, pakistan, south africa, and tibet. Cpjs international program network includes team members in bangkok, beirut, bogot, brussels, istanbul, kiev, liverpool, london, mexico city, nairobi, new delhi, so paulo, and taipei. Cpj also works with local, regional, and international media and human rights groups in order to maintain a global presence. Cpj has vast international networks and collaborative relationships with local and international freedom of expression and human rights groups, including human rights watch, article 19, international pen, and reporters sans frontires. Cpj is a founding member of ifex, an organization made up of 95 global freedom of expression groups. When a small group of u. S. Journalists formed cpj 36 years ago it was to defend the rights of their colleagues abroad. We continue to do so. Today, cpj is recognized as a leader in the press freedom movement. We are distinguished by the high quality of our reporting, a reputation for political independence, decades of experience, and an influential board of directors. Cpj takes action when journalists are under threat in relation to their work. The organizations meticulous reporting and documentation help propel its advocacy. Cpj research consists of data collected using the most stringent guidelines, and its database of journalists killed in the line of duty is the only one of its kind in the world. Cpjs reportingwhich includes alerts, blogs, letters, statements, press releases, and special reportsis amplified by media coverage and social media. All of the organizations published work is available online at https://cpj. Org. We are also focused on defending journalists in the u. S. We have taken dramatic steps to safeguard press freedom and first amendment values and ensure that press freedom remains part of u. S. Foreign policy. Cpj collaborates with other groups and has formed coalitions with partners to monitor press freedom violations and advocate for journalists. Together with the freedom of the press foundation, cpj launched the u. S. Press freedom tracker in 2017. We worked with ifex and reporters without borders to conduct the first-ever international press freedom mission to the united states. And we bolstered our advocacy department, which continues to work on capitol hill to raise awareness about press freedom violations. Preserving a free press in the u. S. Is essential to ensure not only that journalists here can work freely but also to uphold cpjs global mandate of protecting press freedom worldwide. So we will continue with our mission of defending journalists around the world. This is the deadliest and most dangerous time for journalists since cpj opened its doors in 1981. Record numbers of journalists are being killed, imprisoned, and kidnapped. Requests for assistance from journalists at risk have soared. The technology that has helped the flow of global information has empowered both governments and nonstate actors to expand surveillance and censorship. Political revolutions from egypt to ukraine have shown the disruptive power of information, and repressive governments are taking action to control online speech and suppress independent voices. According to our 2017 prison census, at least 262 journalists were behind bars in reprisal for their work, the highest number cpj has recorded since we began keeping detailed records in 1990. But that number would be far higher without cpjs intervention. In the past five years, cpj advocacy has helped win the early release from prison of nearly 300 journalists from countries ranging from somalia to saudi arabia, myanmar to iran to turkey. We helped spring at least 70 of them in 2017 alone. Journalists are no longer viewed as observers, but instead as targets. All told, in the past five years, more than 300 journalists have been killed in reprisal for their work. At least 46 journalists were killed in 2017 alone, with war being the deadliest beat for journalists. Iraq and syria were the most dangerous countries for journalists. Murder is the ultimate form of censorship and impunity breeds fear. That is why cpj carries out a global campaign for justice in journalist murders. The challenges are significant, but we are beginning to see signs of progress, including a reduction of journalists murdered. Since 2013, advocacy by cpj and other groups have helped win convictions in the murders of 38 journalists, many of them emblematic cases for us. In may, cpj published a special report that found that a lack of political will to end impunity exposes mexico as one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists. That month, as part of a mission to launch the report, cpj traveled to mexico city and met with mexican president enrique pea nieto and called on the government to do more to bring those who murder journalists to justice. During the 90-minute meeting, pea nieto told cpj that his government was committed to following up on investigations into attacks on the press and pledged to prioritize protecting journalists and combating impunity in journalist murders for the remainder of his term. Cpj also expressed concern about the poor record of the federal prosecutors office in investigating crimes against freedom of expression. In response, attorney general raul cervantes andrade said authorities were looking to replace federal prosecutor ricardo najera with someone experienced who will have the support and recognition of (freedom of expression) organizations. A few months later, it did. Cpj traveled to kiev in june to launch a report on the murder of journalist pavel sheremet, who received cpjs international press freedom award in 1998. Sheremet was killed when an explosive device detonated under his car in july 2016. Cpj met with ukrainian president petro poroshenko and expressed our concerns. Poroshenko acknowledged the lack of progress and proposed introducing an independent investigator, an announcement that was in line with cpjs recommendations. At cpjs 2017 international press freedom awards dinner on november 15, cpj honored pravit rojanaphruk, a longtime journalist and press freedom advocate; yemeni journalist afrah nasser; imprisoned cameroonian journalist ahmed abba; and patricia mayorga, a mexican journalist who was forced to flee her home. Actor and activist meryl streep presented mayorgas award. The dinner was chaired by david rhodes, president of cbs news, and hosted by christiane amanpour, cnns chief international correspondent. Cpjs emergencies response team, which merges our work in journalist assistance and security, is made up of experts in physical safety, digital security, and journalist assistance. In 2017, cpj provided direct support to at least 120 journalists, including providing them with letters of support or helping to relocate them in exile, and distributed more than $150,000 in financial support to journalists under threat. Our journalist security guide is available in 11 languages: arabic, burmese, chinese, english, farsi, french, portuguese, russian, spanish, somali, and turkish.