CPJ Press Freedom

Guadalajara, May 25, 2026—Authorities in the Mexican state of San Luis Potosí should immediately release journalists Eréndira Reyes and daughter Alejandra Hermosillo, and drop all criminal charges against them over the alleged illegal use of artificial intelligence (AI), the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. Two reporters, asking to remain anonymous for safety reasons, alerted CPJ that Reyes—founder and editor of Facebook-based news page San Wicho Times and the magazine Capital—ha

New York, May 25, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the continued judicial harassment of lawyer and media commentator Sonia Dahmani, amid escalating attacks on press freedom in Tunisia, including the obstruction of journalists covering public protests. The sustained targeting of journalists, commentators, and independent voices signals a dangerous deterioration of civic space and media freedom in the country. Dahmani, who already spent 18 months in jail before she was release

The eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo has joined a growing number of conflicts where drones are being used to target journalists, as two strikes hit a community radio station, followed by calls and messages threatening further attacks over its reporting on militia abuses. The bombing of Radio Tuungane in South Kivu province’s rebel-controlled Minembwe commune came as the United Nations warned in March that civilians were facing additional risks from drones and clashes between the gover

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 10 other civil society organizations in filing an amicus brief in the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday calling for the safeguarding of encryption from NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware to prevent the surveillance of journalists and other human rights defenders.  In the brief, which was led by Access Now, CPJ and fellow amici argue that without the permanent injunction, NSO will continue enabling human rights violations. CPJ has report

Peruvian journalist Geraldine Santos is only 30 years old, and she is already preparing for her funeral. Santos says she has received so many threats while reporting on cocaine trafficking and environmental crimes in the Amazon jungle that she has arranged for her family to contact a government source who, in case Santos is murdered, could help locate her body. “At least that way my parents could give me a dignified burial,” Santos told CPJ in March on its mission to Lima, Peru, the capital,

New York, May 22, 2026—Sudanese authorities must immediately release journalist Rashan Oshi and stop using imprisonment to silence reporting on corruption and other matters of public interest, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. On May 18, 2026, authorities arrested Oshi, a program host for local private television channel AlBalad TV, in Port Sudan after a Sudanese court sentenced her that same day to one year in prison and fined her 10 million Sudanese pounds (USD $16,653), acc

Bogotá, May 21, 2026–Bolivian authorities must thoroughly investigate violent attacks on journalists covering a wave of anti-government demonstrations, including against cameraman Hugo Machicado of private broadcaster Gigavision, and hold those responsible to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. On Monday, Machicado was injured in the legs by shrapnel from dynamite detonated by protesters in the capital La Paz who are demanding the resignation of President Ro

May 21, 2026, New York, NY — The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has advised journalists traveling throughout the United States for the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup may face questioning or hostility from immigration officials at the border or around venues.  The World Cup spans games across cities in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada from June 11 to July 19, 2026. CPJ, a press freedom organization that works globally, has published resources for journalists reporting on the World Cu

In a joint letter led by the Committee to Protect Journalists, nine international press freedom and human rights organizations urged Guatemala’s incoming attorney general, Gabriel García Luna, to end the use of criminal prosecutions against journalists, drop politically motivated cases, and ensure safe conditions for exiled reporters to return. Over the past eight years, the Public Prosecutor’s Office has been used to systematically target independent journalists through legal harassment, for

Beirut, May 21, 2026 — The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply alarmed by the video showing Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir taunting those detained aboard the Gaza-bound Global Sumud Flotilla at Ashdod Port in Israel, which included at least 14 international journalists, while they were handcuffed and held in stress positions on the floor. In the video, published on X by the minister, he can be heard yelling, “Welcome to Israel, we are the landlords,” while wavi

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) joined family members, journalists and other press freedom organizations in Culiacán, the capital of the northern Mexican state of Sinaloa, to renew a call for justice in the murder of journalist Javier Valdez Cárdenas. Valdez, a correspondent for Mexico City newspaper La Jornada and co-founder of weekly investigative magazine Ríodoce, was killed May 15, 2017, in Culiacán. He was a 2011 International Press Freedom Award recipient. Acco

May 15, 2026, New Delhi—Bangladeshi authorities must release journalists Farzana Rupa and Mozammel Babu, who were recently arrested in a crimes-against-humanity case filed at the country’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. On May 14, the ICT in the capital Dhaka showed Rupa, a former chief reporter and presenter at privately owned Ekattor TV, and Babu, the channel’s founder and former editor-in-chief, arrested in a case linked to the M

Bangkok, May 14, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Thai politician Suchart Chomklin to immediately drop his criminal defamation lawsuit against Kowit Phothisan, editor of the independent online outlet The Isaan Record, and on Thai authorities to strengthen protections against strategic lawsuits targeting journalists. Kowit faces charges for sharing a Facebook post related to The Isaan Record’s reporting in January on a Department of Special Investigation case alleging t

Dakar, May 15, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on authorities in Niger to reverse the suspension of nine France-based news outlets and to release all four journalists jailed since last year. The affected outlets are state-funded broadcasters France 24 and Radio France Internationale (RFI), Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency, TV5Monde network, the pan-African weekly Jeune Afrique, the independent investigative outlet Mediapart, the privately owned news channel TF1 Info, and

Kinshasa, May 13, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to release journalist Stéphane Shisso, who was arrested in January after reporting on erosion caused by mining, and to ensure the safety of his colleague Guelord Shamba, who is in hiding. “It is a grave injustice that DRC authorities have detained journalist Stéphane Shisso for more than four months, without bringing him before a court or disclosing charges against him,” sa

After nearly a year in prison, Venezuelan journalist Rory Branker is finally free. But he has yet to liberate himself from what legal experts and press freedom groups describe as trumped-up criminal charges that are hanging over his head.  After the U.S. military ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January, Branker was one of more than two dozen journalists to be released from prison after being jailed by Maduro’s repressive authoritarian regime fo

New Delhi, May 12, 2026—Maldivian authorities must immediately release journalists Mohamed Shahzan and Leevan Ali Nasir and end judicial harassment of their news outlet, Adhadhu, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. According to a report by Adhadhu and a post on X by the Maldives Journalists Association, a court in the capital Malé sentenced Shahzan, a reporter with Adhadhu, to 15 days in jail after he was removed from a May 11 press conference for questioning President Mohamed

Washington, D.C., May 12, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists demands that the United States Justice Department immediately withdraw grand jury subpoenas targeting reporters at The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) in connection with their reporting on the Iran war. CNN reported that President Donald Trump ordered acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to submit the subpoenas using a sticky note on which he wrote “treason.” “This isn’t a leak investigation — it’s an attempt to shut d

New York, May 12, 2026 — For years, Tunisia was viewed as one of the few post-Arab Spring success stories for press freedom in the region. In the decade following the 2011 revolution, journalists gained greater space to investigate corruption, criticize authorities, and report more openly than anywhere else in North Africa. Those gains, while incomplete, marked a significant break from decades of authoritarian control over the media.  By 2026, however, this trajectory has reversed. While

New York, May 12, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Taliban authorities in Afghanistan to immediately and unconditionally release two journalists from TOLOnews and end the harassment of media workers following a raid on the broadcaster and its parent company, Moby Group. Taliban intelligence agents detained TOLOnews presenter Mansoor Niazi on May 7 in the capital, Kabul, according to multiple news reports. Two days later, authorities detained political editor Imran Danish nea