The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is an American independent, 501(c)(3)nonprofit, non-governmental organization based in New York City, with correspondents around the world. CPJ promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journalists. The American Journalism Review has called the organization, "Journalism's Red Cross."[6] Since the late 1980s, CPJ has been publishing an annual census of journalists killed or imprisoned in relation to their work.[7][8]
History and programs
The Committee to Protect Journalists was founded in 1981 in response to the harassment of Paraguayan journalist Alcibiades González Delvalle.[9] Its founding honorary chairman was Walter Cronkite.[9] Since 1991, it has held the annual CPJ International Press Freedom Awards Dinner,[9] during which awards are given to journalists and press freedom advocates who have endured beatings, threats, intimidation, and prison for reporting the news.
Since 1987, it has published an annual worldwide survey of press freedom called Attacks on the Press.[10]
Since 1992, the organization has compiled an annual list of all journalists killed in the line of duty around the world.[11] 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.[11] A running total of journalists killed over the entire period from 1992 is available on the group's website, as well as the statistics for any given year; as of April 2018[update] the total was 1285.[12] The organization's figures are typically lower than similar ongoing counts by Reporters Without Borders or the International Federation of Journalists because of CPJ's established parameters and confirmation process.[13] It also publishes an annual census of imprisoned journalists.[14]
In 2008, the organization launched an annual "Impunity Index" of countries in which journalists are murdered and the killers are not prosecuted.[16][17]
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 right to 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.[18] The ban was overturned and CPJ was granted consultative status in July 2016.[19]
In October 2016, the Committee broke with its tradition of staying out of politics and warned about the danger Donald Trump posed to press freedom in the United States and around the world.[20]