1 of 2 | Jacob Weisberg, chairman of the Committee to Protect Journalists, speaks during a news conference Thursday at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan in Tokyo. Photo by Asia Today
May 22 (Asia Today) -- The head of the U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists warned Friday that pressure on press freedom is not limited to imprisonment, killings or direct censorship, saying lawsuits, access restrictions and online attacks can also intimidate reporters and encourage self-censorship.
Jacob Weisberg, chairman of the Committee to Protect Journalists, made the remarks during a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo when asked about indirect pressure on journalists in democracies such as South Korea and Japan.
"The issue of reporters being prevented from doing their jobs or being punished in unofficial ways, and the issue of threats and self-censorship, are much more difficult matters," Weisberg said.
Asia Today asked how the organization evaluates cases in which press freedom is restricted not through direct censorship but through exclusion, intimidation or loss of access, citing press corps-centered reporting restrictions, limits on access to government briefings, defamation lawsuits and online harassment.
