The Independent | Voices in Danger

Voices in Danger

Journalists exist to tell the story, rather than be the story.


But in many parts of the world, it is becoming increasingly dangerous for them to do their jobs. Last year was the deadliest for more than a decade, according to Reporters Without Borders. So far this year, 25 journalists, bloggers and citizen journalists have been killed and 331 imprisoned for their work.


We at the Independent believe this is a global disgrace. A story that needs to be told.


From the Maldives to Brazil, evidence abounds of journalists being harassed and hounded. Hundreds more flee their countries every year.


Voices in Danger will give their cases the mass media airing they deserve.

Support us. And support World Press Freedom Day on May 3.



By putting these outrages against democracy on display to the world, we will bring pressure to bear on the regimes that are, at best, turning the other way, at worst bringing violent oppression down upon their own citizens.


You can help journalists in danger by donating to Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists. Where appropriate, we will provide links allowing you to contact the regimes directly and call for them to respect their duty to safeguard freedom of speech for their people.


Bad publicity is often the weapon leaders fear more than anything. Let’s use it.


Case studies

Ethiopia: Journalist jailed for 18 years after speaking out

Uganda:

Closure of newspaper office bodes ill for press freedoms

Pakistan:

Journalist abducted, beaten and raped

Pakistan:

Government face urgent calls to address violence against the press

Iraq:

Intimidation threatens the media's ability to report

Basra:

Shot and dumped in the road for her reporting

Tanzania:

Break-ins and family interrogation fail to silence reporter

Nigeria:

One man pays the ultimate price for reporting on the frontline

Robert Fisk:

War reporting - a veteran’s guide

Chad:

Journalist thrown in jail for investigating the government

Libya:

Gaddafi's media suppression lingers

Sri Lanka:

Why did Prageeth Eknelygoda disappear?

Sri Lanka:

'Prageeth is my courage. He always worked for peace and unity'

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Introduction to Voices in Danger

"It was the murder of Anna Politovskaya that really brought home to me the importance of journalistic freedom.


Anna, who worked for my family’s campaigning newspaper Novaya Gazeta, was murdered at her block of flats in Moscow after running a series of exposes of Russian atrocities in Chechnya."


Read more...

Evgeny Lebedev

Monday 29 April
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