Committee to Protect Journalists

History and programs

The Committee to Protect Journalists was founded in 1981 in response to the harassment of Paraguayan journalist Alcibiades González Delvalle. Its founding honorary chairman was Walter Cronkite. Since 1991, it has held the annual CPJ International Press Freedom Awards Dinner, during which awards are given to journalists and press freedom advocates who have received beatings, threats, intimidation, and prison for reporting the news.

Since 1992, the organization has compiled an annual list of all journalists killed in the line of duty around the world. For 2017, it reported that 46 journalists had been killed in connection with their work, as compared to 48 in 2016, and 72 in 2015, and that of those journalists killed, 18 had been murdered. In 2024, CPJ reported that 124 journalists were killed, surpassing the previous high of 113 in 2007. Of those 124, 103 were in the line of duty, and 85 of them were by Israel, all but three of whom were Palestinian journalists.

CPJ has also compiled a database that tracks journalists who have been killed, imprisoned or are missing from 1992 to the present. In 2024 they reported that China and Israel had the most journalists in jail, 50 and 43 respectively.

In 2008, the organization launched an annual "Impunity Index" of countries in which journalists are murdered and the killers are not prosecuted.

The organization is a founding member of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX), a global network of more than seventy non-governmental organizations that monitors free-expression violations around the world and defends journalists, writers, and others persecuted for exercising their freedom of expression. In May 2016, A United Nations committee voted to deny consultative status to CPJ, primarily led by countries with poor press freedom like China, Sudan and Russia. The ban was overturned and CPJ was granted consultative status in July 2016.

In October 2016, the committee broke with its tradition of staying out of politics and warned about the danger it perceived Donald Trump posed to press freedom in the United States and around the world.

In June 2017, U.S. Representative Greg Gianforte was convicted of criminal assault in state court stemming from his assault of The Guardian political reporter Ben Jacobs the previous month. As a stipulation of his settlement with Jacobs, Gianforte donated $50,000 to the Committee to Protect Journalists, which said it would use the funds to support the new U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.

In July 2025, the committee urged international action to protect Al Jazeera correspondent Anas Al-Sharif and other journalists in Gaza, highlighting the deliberate risk faced by local reporters as the "last eyes and ears of the outside world" in Gaza.

References

References

1. "Charity Navigator - IRS Data for Committee to Protect Journalists".
2. (10 January 2022). "Committee to Protect Journalists names Jodie Ginsberg as its new president".
3. Robertson, Katie. (9 June 2021). "The head of the Committee to Protect Journalists offers a warning as he prepares to step down.". The New York Times.
4. [[Jim Romenesko]] (7 June 2006) "Poynter Online Forums" ({{webarchive. link. (14 January 2009). [[Poynter Institute]].)
5. (25 May 2021). "Ann Cooper on the arrest of Raman Pratasevich in Belarus".
6. Ricchiardi, Sherry. (December 1997). "Journalism's Red Cross – Under-Staffed and Low-Profile, the Committee to Protect Journalists Rides to the Rescue of Reporters and Editors Who Run Afoul of Governments Hostile to the Press". [[American Journalism Review]].
7. (16 December 2022). "Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Report".
8. "Committee to Protect Journalists records, 1978-2008".
9. Gladstone, Rick (19 December 2016). "[https://nytimes.com/2016/12/19/world/americas/fewer-journalists-died-on-the-job-this-year-group-reports.html Fewer Journalists Were Killed on the Job This Year, Group Reports] {{Webarchive. link. (11 October 2017". ''The New York Times''. Retrieved 3 July 2017.)
10. Jabakhanji, Sara. (2025-02-12). "'Most dangerous time,' Committee to Protect Journalists says after 2024 marks deadliest year". CBC.
11. (2025-02-12). "2024 is deadliest year for journalists in CPJ history; almost 70% killed by Israel".
12. Scott, Liam. (2025-01-16). "Report: China, Israel named leading jailers of journalists".
13. (30 October 2024). "Israel, Haiti top CPJ list of states where journalist murders go unpunished".
14. "Press freedom watchdog denied UN credentials".
15. (25 July 2016). "U.N. body overturns rejection, accredits press freedom watchdog". Reuters.
16. Sullivan, Margaret. (10 September 2023). "How the Committee to Protect Journalists broke with tradition to protest Trump". Washington Post.
17. (21 June 2017). "Gianforte Causes Stir After Becoming Newest House Member". [[The Hill (newspaper).
18. Kyung Lah, Noa Yadidi and Carma Hassan. (12 June 2017). "Gianforte pleads guilty to assault in incident with reporter".
19. Andrews, Natalie. (12 June 2017). "Incoming GOP Congressman Greg Gianforte Pleads Guilty to Assault on Reporter". The Wall Street Journal.
20. (8 June 2017). "Congressman-elect Gianforte apologizes to reporter for assault, to donate $50,000 to press group".
21. Feinberg, Ashley. "A Crucial New Site Tracks Attacks on Press in the US".
22. (24 July 2025). "CPJ calls for Anas Al-Sharif's protection in face of Israeli smears".
23. (25 July 2025). "Al Jazeera condemns Israeli incitement against Gaza reporter Anas al-Sharif".