2005-2014

In the days following the sexual attack on well-known CBS reporter Lara Logan in Egypt, the International News Safety Institute (INSI) assembled a safety advisory for women travellers. Meanwhile, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) laments the trouble with documenting sexual violence against journalists. Logan, a reporter for the American TV cable network CBS, was attacked on February 11

Altogether 139 journalists and 21 media outlets in Mexico suffered violence related to their work in 2010, a year in which violence against them media grew and drug traffickers were not the only perpetrators, says the Center for Journalism and Public Ethics (CEPET) in its annual report. The document reports that nine media workers were killed, three more disappeared, and two fled the country after

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has deplored the decision by the police in the Republic of the Maldives to summon two journalists for interrogation after their newspaper carried news of a pornographic video racket operating in parts of the country. Ahmed Hamdhoon and Ismail Naseer, who researched and wrote the story in the Dhivehi-language edition of the daily Haveeru, were...

The 6th Judicial Circuit Civil Law Court at the Temple of Justice in Liberia has denied a motion for retrial filed by legal counsellors representing the Frontpage Africa newspaper and its editor-in-chief, Rodney Sieh, in a US$2 million libel suit filed by former agriculture minister Chris Toe. In his final ruling on February 23, Judge Yussif Kaba said the court is of the opinion that the jury...

Golden Maunganidze, the editor of the privately owned weekly, The Masvingo Mirror, accused of defaming ZANU PF Masvingo provincial chairman Lovemore Matuke, was freed by the courts after the state declined to prosecute him on February 24. The State said there was no evidence warranting prosecution. Maunganidze was arrested on February 23 in the southern town of Masvingo on allegations of...

Harare Magistrate Don Ndirowei removed from remand and granted an application for referral to the Supreme Court submitted by The Standard journalists Nevanji Madanhire and Nqobani Ndlovu after the state failed to oppose the application on February 28. Madanhire, who is the editor of The Standard, and Ndlovu, a reporter for the paper, are being charged under Section 31 of the Criminal Law...

Prison terms of more than 204 years in total were the verdicts for 25 defendants who attended a demonstration in October 2008. Journalist Vedat Yilidiz from the Dicle News Agency (DIHA) and Guneydogu Ekspres (South-east Express) newspaper reporter Lokman Dayan were among those convicted in a hearing which took place on February 24. Yilidiz and Dayan were attending the protest march on assignment...

The group of nine newspapers supporting Alassane Ouattara, the internationally recognised President of Cote d'Ivoire, began an indefinite suspension of their publications on March 1 to protest against constant harassment and intimidation by pro-Gbagbo forces. The Media Foundation for West Africa's (MFWA) correspondent reported that what prompted the action of the newspapers was the suspension of...

US ambassador to Kosovo Christopher Dell has written an open letter to the country's Independent Media Commission criticising Express, Koha Ditore and Koha Vision TV for using blown-up photos of text messages on a smartphone screen to show that he provided the country's new president with last-minute advice in parliament before a vote that secured him the presidency. It was clear from the photos...

The BBC's Albanian Service has made its last broadcast after nearly 20 years serving audiences in Albania, Kosovo and Macedonia. It is one of five language services closing after cuts announced by the BBC World Service in January. The details: [ Link] The Albanian Service first operated in 1940-1967, then resumed broadcasts in 1993 as Albania emerged from communism. The service came into its own...