Attacks on the Press: Journalism on the Front Lines

The U.S. government’s aggressive war on leaks and digital surveillance poses a global challenge for the free flow of news. The primary battlegrounds for press freedom used to be contained within the borders of authoritarian states. While those battles continue, U.S. policies have chilled the conversation between journalists and their sources and raised doubts about the U.S. commitment to press freedom online.

The Committee to Protect Journalists’ (CPJ) comprehensive annual assessment Attacks on the Press describes the threats to press freedom and explores strategies to safeguard the free flow of information around the world. Jacob Weisberg, chairman of the Slate Group and member of CPJ’s board of directors, examines the challenges in covering national security in a post-Snowden era. CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon analyzes the global damaging effects to press freedom caused by U.S. mass surveillance programs.

Joel Simon joined CPJ in 1997 as Americas program coordinator and was named executive director in 2006. He has written for Slate, Columbia Journalism Review, The New York Review of Books, World Policy Journal, Asahi Shimbun, and The Times of India.

Jacob Weisberg previously served as editor of Slate magazine for six years, stepping down in 2008. He is the author of The Bush Tragedy and has also worked for The New Republic, The New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Financial Times, and Newsweek.

Location

Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs
Merrill House
170 East 64th Street
New York, NY 10065-7478

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