2005-2014

Never pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel, or so goes the old saw. For decades, the famous and the infamous alike largely followed this advice. Even when subjects of news stories felt they had been misunderstood or badly treated, they were unlikely to take on reporters or publishers, believing that the power of the press gave the press the final word. The Internet, and especially...

Three years ago I began writing a daily report for the Jerusalem Post. The irony is that, as an Arab Muslim, I feel freer to write for this Jewish paper than I do for any Arab newspaper. I have no problem writing for any Arab newspaper if it will provide me with a free platform and not censor my writing. My editors at the Jerusalem Post do not interfere with my writing. When Arafat arrived in Gaza...

RABAT – A huge number of Moroccan independent newspapers, backing Press freedom in the Arab world, condemned the ever-increasing restrictions, trials and extravagant fines, imposed over newspapers. Some of those papers were referred to the court over charges of defamation and lodging into critical political issues. The Al Ayam Arabic weekly was the last to be sued for publishing an article...

Liu Binyan was rare person in China. For four decades, China's most famous journalist held on to high moral principles. Just about everyone else in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had long abandoned trying to help the workers and peasants, and instead thought almost exclusively in making a comfortable life for oneself at the expense of others. His belief in social justice never wavered or...

A multi-crore newsprint import scam, involving some politicians, has been unearthed by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) which has arrested five businessmen in this connection. At least 300 tonnes of paper imported from various countries through tax evasion has been seized by the DRI sleuths in this connection, sources in the agency have reported. Investigations have revealed that some...

MILWAUKEE - A college newspaper that printed a photo essay depicting an editor's sexual fantasy of being raped created such a backlash on campus that a task force is being formed to focus on the problem of violence against women. Some women's advocates have called for harsh penalties, such as tossing the UWM Post out of its free office space at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus, because...

IT WAS the journalistic equivalent of a drive-by shooting. The targets of Washington Post reporters Jonathan Finer and Doug Struck were two of journalism's favorites: Web loggers and the U.S. military. "Bloggers, Money, Now Weapons in Information War," read the headline over their story, which appeared Monday. "U.S. Recruits Advocates to the Front, Pays Iraqi TV Stations for Coverage," the subhead...

As the U.S. mutates the rationale for its preemptive invasion of Iraq, the mainstream media continues to pander to xenophobic and partisan denominators vis-à-vis Iran. Despite massive government intelligence failures concerning the September 11th tragedy, the heartbreaking devastation of Hurricane Katrina, and the perversely flawed intelligence on non-existent Iraqi weapons of mass destruction...

The Russe Regional Court confirmed the acquittal of a Romanian journalist sued for illegal possession and use of special surveillance devices (SSD). On September 15 the court acquitted George Buhnici. The Russe Regional Court sued George Buhnici for illegal possession and use of special surveillance devices (SSD) and sentenced him to BGN 1,000 fine. However, a higher district court acquitted the...

KHARTOUM, Dec 31 (Reuters) - Sudanese security forces jailed without charge a journalist accused of slandering President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in a move some parliamentarians called unconstitutional. Zuheir Sirraj, a columnist for the al-Sahafa daily paper, was detained on Friday night. A source in state security said he had violated the law by writing an article saying the president did not care...