Committee to Protect Journalists

{{Infobox organization

| name = Committee to Protect Journalists

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| abbreviation = CPJ

| formation = {{start date and age|1981}}

| logo = Committee to Protect Journalists logo.svg

| type = 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization{{Cite web |url=https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.irs&ein=133081500 |title=Charity Navigator - IRS Data for Committee to Protect Journalists |access-date=31 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906042859/http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.irs&ein=133081500 |archive-date=6 September 2015 |url-status=live }}

| tax_id = 13-3081500

| status =

| purpose = Press freedom, journalist human rights and safety of journalists

| headquarters = New York City, New York

| location_country = US

| coords = {{Coord|40.74769|-73.99327|type:landmark_globe:earth_region:US-NY|display=title,inline}}

| region_served = International

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| leader_title = President

| leader_name = Jodie Ginsberg (2022–present){{cite web |url=https://cpj.org/2022/01/committee-to-protect-journalists-names-jodie-ginsberg-as-its-new-president/ |title=Committee to Protect Journalists names Jodie Ginsberg as its new president|date=10 January 2022 }}
Joel Simon (2006-2021){{Cite news |last=Robertson |first=Katie |date=2021-06-09 |title=The head of the Committee to Protect Journalists offers a warning as he prepares to step down. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/09/business/media/the-head-of-the-committee-to-protect-journalists-offers-a-warning-as-he-prepares-to-step-down.html |access-date=2024-08-13 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}
Ann Cooper (1998-2006)Jim Romenesko (June 7, 2006) "Poynter Online Forums" ({{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090114024726/http://www.poynter.org/forum/view_post.asp?id=11487|date=14 January 2009}}). Poynter Institute.{{cite web | title=Ann Cooper on the arrest of Raman Pratasevich in Belarus | website=Shorenstein Center | date=25 May 2021 | url=https://shorensteincenter.org/ann-cooper-on-the-arrest-of-raman-pratasevich-in-belarus-2/ | access-date=7 December 2024}}

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| affiliations = International Freedom of Expression Exchange

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| website = {{official URL}}

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The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit 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."{{cite web |url=http://www.ajr.org/article.asp?id=1510 |title=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 |author=Ricchiardi, Sherry |date=December 1997 |work=American Journalism Review |access-date=12 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131018074855/http://www.ajr.org/article.asp?id=1510 |archive-date=18 October 2013 |url-status=dead }} Since the late 1980s, CPJ has published an annual census of journalists killed or imprisoned in relation to their work.{{cite web | title=Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Report | website=CivilsDaily | date=16 December 2022 | url=https://www.civilsdaily.com/news/protect-journalists/ | access-date=6 December 2024}}

History and programs

The Committee to Protect Journalists was founded in 1981 in response to the harassment of Paraguayan journalist Alcibiades González Delvalle.{{cite web|title=Committee to Protect Journalists records, 1978-2008|url=http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/archival/collections/ldpd_7745809/|website=Columbia University Libraries Archival Collections |access-date=16 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160623155229/http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/archival/collections/ldpd_7745809/|archive-date=23 June 2016|url-status=live}} 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.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|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011221623/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/19/world/americas/fewer-journalists-died-on-the-job-this-year-group-reports.html |date=11 October 2017 }}". The New York Times. Retrieved 2017-07-03. 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 2008, the organization launched an annual "Impunity Index" of countries in which journalists are murdered and the killers are not prosecuted.{{Cite web |date=October 30, 2024 |title=Israel, Haiti top CPJ list of states where journalist murders go unpunished |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/10/30/israel-haiti-top-cpj-list-of-states-where-journalist-murders-go-unpunished |access-date=2024-12-18 |website=Al Jazeera |language=en}}

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.{{Cite web |title=Press freedom watchdog denied UN credentials |url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/press-freedom-watchdog-denied-un-credentials/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171001032802/http://www.timesofisrael.com/press-freedom-watchdog-denied-un-credentials/ |archive-date=1 October 2017 |access-date=2017-09-30 |website=The Times of Israel}} The ban was overturned and CPJ was granted consultative status in July 2016.{{Cite news |date=25 July 2016 |title=U.N. body overturns rejection, accredits press freedom watchdog |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-un-press-idUSKCN1052C3 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180930231650/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-un-press-idUSKCN1052C3 |archive-date=30 September 2018 |access-date=2017-09-30 |newspaper=Reuters}}

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.{{Cite news |last=Sullivan |first=Margaret |date=2023-09-10 |title=How the Committee to Protect Journalists broke with tradition to protest Trump |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/how-the-committee-to-protect-journalists-broke-its-own-rule-to-protest-trump/2016/10/16/ec49e2c4-9252-11e6-a6a3-d50061aa9fae_story.html |access-date=2024-08-13 |newspaper=Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}

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.{{cite news | last1=Marcos | first1=Cristina | title=Gianforte Causes Stir After Becoming Newest House Member | url=https://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/338813-gianforte-causes-stir-after-becoming-newest-house-member/ | date=21 June 2017 | newspaper=The Hill | access-date=22 June 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191214182314/https://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/338813-gianforte-causes-stir-after-becoming-newest-house-member | archive-date=14 December 2019 | url-status=live }}{{Cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/12/politics/greg-gianforte-assault-plea/index.html|title=Gianforte pleads guilty to assault in incident with reporter|author=Kyung Lah, Noa Yadidi and Carma Hassan|website=CNN|date=12 June 2017|access-date=2017-06-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181121234326/https://www.cnn.com/2017/06/12/politics/greg-gianforte-assault-plea/index.html|archive-date=21 November 2018|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/incoming-gop-congressman-greg-gianforte-to-plead-guilty-to-assault-on-reporter-1497280559|title=Incoming GOP Congressman Greg Gianforte Pleads Guilty to Assault on Reporter|last=Andrews|first=Natalie|date=2017-06-12|work=The Wall Street Journal|access-date=2017-06-12|language=en-US|issn=0099-9660|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191214182256/https://www.wsj.com/articles/incoming-gop-congressman-greg-gianforte-to-plead-guilty-to-assault-on-reporter-1497280559|archive-date=14 December 2019|url-status=live}} 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.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=June 8, 2017 |title=Congressman-elect Gianforte apologizes to reporter for assault, to donate $50,000 to press group |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/gianforte-apologizes-reporter-donate-50000-press-group-settle/story?id=47904086 |access-date=2024-12-18 |website=ABC News |language=en}}{{Cite magazine |last=Feinberg |first=Ashley |title=A Crucial New Site Tracks Attacks on Press in the US |url=https://www.wired.com/story/us-press-freedom-tracker-site/ |access-date=2024-12-18 |magazine=Wired |language=en-US |issn=1059-1028}}