2005-2014

Saad al-Aossi, editor-in-chief of the critical Iraqi weekly Al-Shahid, has gone missing, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Armed men entered al-Aossi’s home in central Baghdad on the morning of April 14, seized his computer and took him to an unknown location, according to local and regional news reports. The identity of the armed men remains unclear; various news sources...

“The phenomenon of ‘paid news' goes beyond the corruption of individual journalists and media companies. It has become pervasive, structured and highly organised and in the process, is undermining democracy in India.” So finds the draft report of inquiry conducted into the phenomenon by the Press Council of India to be discussed by the full Council on April 26 in Delhi. The Hindu has obtained a...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has expressed concern over the continuing wave of press freedom violations in Iraq, and reiterated its appeal to the Iraqi parliament to pass a law protecting journalists. “Many journalists and media have been the target of physical attacks or lawsuits since the March 7 parliamentary elections,” Paris-based RSF said. “The threats come from both the security forces...

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has voiced deep concern at the killing of Honduran television anchor Jorge Alberto Orellana, the sixth journalist killed in the country since March. Orellana, 50, host of the programme “En vivo con Georgino” (Georgino Live) at the local private station Televisión de Honduras, was shot to death on Tuesday by an unidentified gunman in the city of San Pedro...

The Kyrgyzstan provisional government’s Coordinating Council in the southern region of Osh introduced a new system of censorship on April 15, according to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). and reiterates its appeal to interim President Rosa Otunbayeva’s administration to keep its promises to respect the rule of law. The opposition to ousted President Kurmanbek Bakiyev’s government’s criticised its...

Members of the Kyrgyz counter-espionage service temporarily overran the office of independent news agency 24.kg in Bishkek on April 15, eight days after the revolt that toppled President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, according to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). Journalists said armed men, led by Aspekov Talant, the head of the service, stormed into the office and, without giving any reason, announced that...

Twelve countries where journalists are regularly killed and governments fail to investigate the crimes and seek out perpetrators are being highlighted in CPJ's 2010 Impunity Index. The compilation was released this week to coincide with an international summit on impunity being held in New York City where press freedom advocates and journalists are gathering to discuss strategies to end violence...

The Bahraini culture and information ministry has imposed a ban on using a chat application available on Blackberry mobile phones to share local news, according to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). The ministry threatened to prosecute violators when it announced the ban on April 7. As a result of the prohibition, local journalist Muhannad Sulaiman has had to suspend his “Urgent News,” a daily...

Anti-riot police assaulted journalists covering two different protests in Sulaimaniya in Iraqi Kurdistan on Saturday and Tuesday, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Several journalists told the New York-based CPJ on Tuesday that police prevented them on Saturday from covering clashes between security forces and students who had taken to the streets to protest the Ministry of...

Another Pakistani journalist, Azamat Ali Bangash, a correspondent for Saama TV, has been killed in a suicide bombing, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) reported that Bangash was killed in an April 17 suicide bombing while covering food distribution in a refugee camp near Orakzai, in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas near...