Dear Press Freedom Supporter,

As I step into the role as president of the Committee to Protect Journalists, the challenges before us can seem daunting. Last year, CPJ documented a record number of journalists behind bars. Already this year, at least 16 journalists have been killed on the job, as reporting from Ukraine, Mexico, and Haiti proves to be dangerous work. In countries like Afghanistan, Myanmar, and Russia, repressive regimes have chilled independent reporting entirely. Looking ahead to the remainder of 2022, journalists face increased threats: elections are due in several countries, and large-scale protests could lead to attacks or arrests of reporters trying to do their jobs.

The world needs journalists. Without the press, we cannot make decisions about what’s happening around us, but at a time that should be most obvious, defending a free press has never been more difficult.

And yet, at CPJ, we remain undeterred, as we always have.

More than 40 years ago, when our new nonprofit consisted of a small collection of volunteers, our first case sought to help three British journalists – Simon Winchester, Ian Mather, and Tony Prime – who were arrested and charged with espionage while covering the Falklands War. CPJ helped draw international attention to their case and win their release. Simon Winchester later described CPJ as an organization “that stands ready to help all of our colleagues, present and future, wherever and whenever they may find themselves in the kind of trouble that only journalists…can get into.” Coming in four decades later as the first British journalist to lead CPJ, these remarks hit particularly close to home.

CPJ remains ready to help wherever and whenever help is needed, and most recently, the Russia-Ukraine war has driven home just how crucial that help is for our colleagues.

The world isn’t the same as it was when CPJ helped secure the release of the journalists covering the Falklands war. Online harassment, the growing threat of spyware, sophisticated disinformation campaigns, and the criminalization of accurate, independent reporting complicate an already messy fight for a free press.

But CPJ has something the violators of a free press are lacking. We have you. Behind our mission is a dedicated Board of Directors and staff, and talented researchers, advocates, donors, and friends – that is, each of you. This moment, and both the challenges and victories ahead, is a moment of solidarity and optimism to push back against all of those who would violate the rights of journalists to do their jobs – however they might choose to do so. Instead of seeing the challenges ahead as daunting, I see each of you, dedicated to this work, and I’m inspired.

I hope you’ll join me in the coming months as we work together to build a world that’s safer for the press, where no journalist will fear reprisal for their work – a world we can be proud of because we built it together.

I look forward to getting to know and working with so many of you. Thank you for your shared dedication to CPJ. 

Warmest Regards,

Jodie Ginsberg