Press Freedom
CPJ Updates
- Covering police violence protests in the US
- Amid COVID-19, the prognosis for press freedom is dim. Here are 10 symptoms to track
- The Trump Administration and the Media
- About: The Trump Administration and the Media
- Trust deficit: About This Report
- Trust deficit: Guatemala’s new president must overcome skepticism to improve press freedom
- Trust deficit: ‘The goal was to silence me’
- Number of journalists killed falls sharply as reprisal murders hit record low
- One Country, One Censor: How China undermines media freedom in Hong Kong and Taiwan
Reporter Without Borders
- India: A year of throttling journalism in Kashmir
- Djibouti: Detained reporter’s home searched, Facebook account hacked
- Journalist’s conviction would prove Algeria is now authoritarian
- Senegalese authorities must respond to ransacking of Dakar newspaper
- Vietnamese journalist Ngo Van Dung gets five years in prison
- Journalist and bodyguard gunned down in southern Mexico
- Pressure on Karakalpakstan journalist wrongly accused of spreading false information
- US - Department of Homeland Security created intel reports on journalists, instructed officers on how to arrest and tear gas press without liability
OPC Applauds Release of Reuters Journalists
NEW YORK, May 7, 2019—The Overseas Press Club congratulates Reuters on the release of reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo who have been pardoned by Myanmar authorities. The journalists were arrested in December 2017 and later convicted of violating Myanmar’s Official Secrets Act and sentenced to seven years in prison.
Read the Reuters story here >>
Their release is a major victory for the global press freedom movement and Reuters’ relentless advocacy for their imprisoned journalists.
“We are enormously pleased that Myanmar has released our courageous reporters, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo,” said Steve Adler, editor in chief, Reuters in a statement. “Since their arrests 511 days ago, they have become symbols of the importance of press freedom around the world. We welcome their return.”
The United Nations praised the release of the Myanmar reporters but cautioned that “no positive progress has been observed” in the Myanmar’s government’s stance against freedom of expression.
“The situation for freedom of expression (in Myanmar) is dire,” said Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Office.
The journalists were arrested in December 2017, a sign of Myanmar’s deteriorating press freedoms under Nobel laureate and civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.
They were convicted on charges of violating the official secrets act and sentenced to seven years each.
The Overseas Press Club is an international association of journalists based in New York City that works to encourage the highest standards in journalism, to educate the next generation of foreign correspondents and to promote international press freedom and the well-being of colleagues in the field.