Danny O’Brien, CPJ’s new Internet Advocacy Coordinator, joined us with a brief to defend online journalists and the Internet itself as a medium for global press freedom. In his first month, he helped reform a weak law in Brazil and get a persecuted Ethiopian media outlet back online.
On April 21, Google published international statistics on government demands for content removal and access to private user data. The figures contained some surprises, including the high ranking of Brazil as a censor of online content and unmasker of anonymous Internet sources. O’Brien’s analysis of Brazil’s position led to a frank discussion on the CPJ Blog between CPJ and officials at the Brazilian Ministry of Justice. Within days, a new draft law criticized in the blog entry had been redrafted by the ministry to create better protections for Brazilian online journalists. You can read our analysis, and the ministry’s responses, on our blog.
Defending at-risk journalists remains the heart of CPJ’s mission whether they work for traditional press or the emerging online media. The editors and writers of Ethiopia’s Addis Neger newspaper had no choice over their switch from print to digital. In 2009, their Addis Ababa print newspaper was shut down, and its staff forced into exile after threats and harassment from officials and government supporters.
They continued to keep in touch with their audience by using a Facebook group of more than 3,000 fans-until Facebook abruptly removed their page earlier this month, citing high levels of user complaints, presumably from government supporters. CPJ worked behind the scenes at Facebook to lobby to reinstate Addis Neger’s page. The journalists were able to restore contact with their supporters in time to launch their own independent news site at AddisNegerOnline at the beginning of May.
