GIJC15

Reporting in many countries is getting more dangerous than ever. 

Journalists are increasingly harassed and arrested and independent media closed.

Even family members of reporters are being arrested, for instance in Azerbaijan and Central Asia.

In this panel, five courageous investigative reporters from four continents talk about their harrowing experiences with prosecutions, dirty tricks, and violent attacks. But more than that, they will show that intimidation does not work. All still continue to tell the stories that need to be told. From Mexico to Pakistan, Angola to Malaysia, reporters refuse to be silenced, despite facing kidnappings, death threats, beatings, imprisonment, and harassment. They will talk about their strategies for fighting back -- legally, politically, and journalistically.

And they will underline the importance of international collaboration, as in the case of Azerbaijani investigative reporter Khadija Ismayilova. Detained in December 2014, Khadija was sentenced to more than seven years in prison this September, but her international colleagues at the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) have continued her work.

This panel will unequivocally state that journalism is not a crime!