Americas

Journalist security is still a maturing field, but news organizations are devoting more attention to preparing their reporters and photographers for the dangers particular to the profession. That means understanding risks that are constantly evolving. The brutal attack on CBS correspondent Lara Logan at a Cairo demonstration has drawn worldwide attention to the issue of sexual assault against journalists--CPJ issued new guidelines on the threat today--but the case also points to an emerging, if lesser-known threat. In the past 18 months, more journalists have been killed covering violent demonstrations and other non-military events than at any time since CPJ began keeping detailed records two decades ago.

New York, June 6, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Colombian authorities today to thoroughly investigate the attempted murder of the director of a provincial television station in Colombia. Mario Esteban López Ortega, known for his criticism of local authorities, escaped an assassination attempt on Tuesday after he was abducted in the city of Ipiales, Nariño province.

New York, June 2, 2011--With the news that the body of Noel López Olguín, a Mexican reporter who went missing in March, was found on Tuesday, the Committee to Protect Journalists called on Mexican authorities to thoroughly investigate his murder. López was found Tuesday buried in a clandestine grave in the city of Chinameca, in the state of Veracruz, according to local news reports.

New York, June 1, 2011--In the last month, at least eight Peruvian journalists were physically attacked, threatened, or verbally harassed in response to their coverage of the June 5 presidential race, according to regional press groups and local media. Most of the culprits appear to be supporters of each of the presidential candidates.

New York, June 1, 2011--A drug gang leader confessed on Sunday to killing Mexican reporter Noel López Olguín, a columnist for a small newspaper in the state of Veracruz who went missing in March, according to local press reports. Gustavo Salas, the Mexican federal attorney general's special prosecutor for crimes against freedom of expression, told CPJ on Tuesday that his office is taking up the case.

CPJ’s 2011 Impunity Index spotlights countries
where journalists are slain and killers go free

New York, May 31, 2011--Vanguardia, the oldest and largest newspaper in the city Saltillo, in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila, was the target of a hand grenade attack on Sunday, according to local press reports. No injuries were reported.

Lately, we have come to expect violence against journalists in certain regions, such as the Middle East. But here at CPJ, 2011 has also been troubling for the number of journalists killed in an entirely different part of the world, the Americas. 

New York, May 25, 2011-- In two recent shooting attacks, a Honduran media owner has been killed and a newspaper manager wounded. Honduras authorities must put an end to the record level of violence against the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.