Press Freedom
CPJ Updates
- Global impunity in journalist murders continues unabated
- Getting Away with Murder
- Members of public assault Israeli journalist Daniel Siryoti in Kiryat Ata
- Pakistan media regulator walks back ban on news anchors expressing personal opinions
- Sierra Leone journalist Mahmud Tim Kargbo charged with criminal defamation
- Palestinian court orders block of dozens of news websites and Facebook pages
- Chinese journalist Sophia Huang Xueqin detained following coverage of Hong Kong protests
- CPJ calls on Tajik president to ensure journalists can report the news freely and safely
- Australian newspapers stand together for press freedom
Reporter Without Borders
- Tanzanian reporter must be freed and given medical care, RSF says
- Southern Indian state cracks down on “false” reports
- Palestinian reporter loses eye when Israeli police fire on protesters
- “Without independent journalism, this would be the news” - RSF’s new ad
- Guinea: two reporters injured while covering Conakry protest
- Assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia: International organisations cautiously welcome improved terms of the public inquiry
- Sweden arrests Iranian suspected of role in 1988 massacre
- Threat to DRC journalists who cover measures to combat Ebola
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.