Joel Simon is director of the Journalism Protection Initiative at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York . He is also a former consultant for Global Freedom of Expression, fellow for the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia Journalism School and a senior visiting fellow at Columbia’s Knight First Amendment Institute. For over 15 years, he served as the executive director for the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).  Simon led the CPJ through a period of expansion. Under his guidance, CPJ launched the Global Campaign Against Impunity, established a Journalist Assistance program and spearheaded CPJ’s efforts to defend press freedom in the digital space. CPJ has also been honored with the Thomas J. Dodd Prize in International Justice and Human Rights and a News & Documentary Emmy for its work in defense of press freedom. Simon has written on press freedom issues for publications including Columbia Journalism Review, World Policy Journal, Asahi Shimbun, and The Times of India. His press freedom analysis is featured regularly in major media, including The New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, and BBC. Before becoming executive director of CPJ, Simon served as the Americas program coordinator and then deputy director. As a journalist in Latin America, Simon covered the Guatemalan civil war, the Zapatista uprising in Southern Mexico, the debate over the North American Free Trade Agreement, and the economic turmoil in Cuba following the collapse of the Soviet Union. A graduate of Amherst College and Stanford University, he is the author of Endangered Mexico: An Environment on the Edge.