"The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) today announced that it will honor journalists from China, Ecuador, Kyrgyzstan, and Tunisia – as well as a champion of U.S. press freedom – at its 35th annual International Press Freedom Awards in New York this November.
In a sign of the growing pressures on journalists around the world, two of this year’s awardees are currently behind bars for their journalism, and three were forced to flee their home countries and now report from exile.
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For more than two decades, Ecuadorian journalists Elvira del Pilar Nole and Juan Carlos Tito operated Radio Selva from the small highland town of Baeza — its only radio station, providing vital, independent community news. But their investigations into drug gangs led to death threats, and forced the family to flee, first to Colombia and then to Canada, from where they continue to broadcast.
The couple’s experience highlights the immense challenges facing journalists in Ecuador, where authorities and criminal groups are increasingly targeting reporters."
