2005-2014

28 January 2011
Press marks cruel anniversary in Sri Lanka

Press marks cruel anniversary in Sri Lanka

A year ago last January, Sri Lankan cartoonist Prageeth Eknelygoda mysteriously disappeared. Two years ago this month, independent TV station Sirasa was bombed with military precision - a couple of days before well-known editor Lasantha Wickrematunge, who was critical of his government's war against the Tamil Tigers, was killed. Today, none of the cases have been solved, and no one has been

More
28 January 2011
Authorities in Yemen release journalists for fear of Tunisia-style unrest

Authorities in Yemen release journalists for fear of Tunisia-style unrest

In the face of angry protesters and the potential for a Tunisia-style uprising, the Yemeni authorities suddenly released a number of journalists and human rights activists arrested over the weekend, report the Arabic Network for Human Right Information (ANHRI), Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). Like Algeria, Egypt and others inspired by the...

More
28 January 2011
Journalists targeted by police violence, arrests in Egypt

Journalists targeted by police violence, arrests in Egypt

The police have been resorting to widespread violence against journalists covering Egypt’s street protests. It is hard to establish exactly how many journalists have been arrested or physically attacked by police officers in the past 48 hours. According to the latest information obtained by Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF), more than a dozen journalists have been...

More
28 January 2011

Authorities illegally shutter radio station in Zambia

Authorities in Zambia's Western Province must immediately allow community station Radio Lyambayi to return to air, the Committee to Protect Journalists has said. The government raided the private broadcaster based in Mongu, about 360 miles (580 km) west of the capital, Lusaka, carting away computers and other broadcasting equipment on January 16, according to the Media Institute of Southern Africa...

More
28 January 2011
CPJ finds obstruction during Sudanese referendum

CPJ finds obstruction during Sudanese referendum

Sudanese authorities harassed, obstructed, and censored local and international news media covering this month's referendum concerning independence for South Sudan, a Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) analysis has found. South Sudanese cast ballots from January 9 through 15. Preliminary results show overwhelming approval for independence, although ballot-counting irregularities have been...

More
28 January 2011
BBC World Service cuts outlined to staff

BBC World Service cuts outlined to staff

The BBC has confirmed plans to close five of its 32 World Service language services. Staff have been informed that up to 650 jobs will be lost from a workforce of 2,400 over the next three years. The Macedonian, Albanian and Serbian services will be axed, as will English for the Caribbean and Portuguese for Africa, in a bid to save £46m a year. The BBC estimates audiences will fall by more than 30...

More
27 January 2011
Al-Jazeera launches new unit to support future leaks

Al-Jazeera launches new unit to support future leaks

Al-Jazeera has launched a new Transparency Unit website parallelly to the release of almost 1,700 leaked documents relating to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, according to journalism.co.uk. The new platform enables the public to submit content to the broadcaster such as documents, photos, audio and video clips, and story tip-offs, to be reviewed by its editorial team for potential coverage...

More
27 January 2011
Palestine Papers fallout: Television studio used by Al-Jazeera sacked in Nablus

Palestine Papers fallout: Television studio used by Al-Jazeera sacked in Nablus

A television studio in the Palestinian Territories used by the satellite television station Al-Jazeera was attacked Wednesday, Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. Al-Jazeera recently broadcast confidential documents on the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians between 1999 and 2010. The studio, in Nablus in the north of the West Bank, belongs to...

More
27 January 2011
Copies of opposition weekly seized in Kazakhstan, journalists arrested

Copies of opposition weekly seized in Kazakhstan, journalists arrested

There has been a wave of harassment of news media and journalists critical of a proposed referendum that would allow President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has ruled since 1989, to continue in office until 2020 without having to run for reelection in 2012, according to Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). “This attempt to perpetuate a dictatorial regime in flagrant...

More
27 January 2011

Dismay at three-year jail sentence for Somaliland newspaper editor

A three-year jail sentence and a fine of 6 million Somaliland shillings (around 1,000 dollars) has been imposed by a court in Hargeisa, the capital of the breakaway northwestern territory of Somaliland, on Mohamud Abdi Jama, the editor of the independent newspaper Waheen, for allegedly libelling local officials. “This sentence (on Sunday) has all the hallmarks of summary and punitive justice,”...

More