2005-2014

A Russian oligarch and former KGB agent is expected to strike a deal to buy a controlling stake in the London Evening Standard, the Guardian has reported. Alexander Lebedev is to buy 76 per cent of the newspaper with the Associated Newspapers group retaining 24 per cent. In May last year Forbes ranked Lebedev the world's 358th richest billionaire, with a fortune of 3.1 billion US dollars. His...

The International News Safety Institute (INSI) has backed a call by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) for the United Nations to investigate the targeting of media by Israeli forces in Gaza. Israeli military actions in Gaza appear to amount to a clear violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1738 which demands all parties in armed conflict comply with their obligations under...

The proposed changes in the Cable Television Network Regulations Act have been put on hold after top editors of major television news channels unanimously agreed to oppose the proposed amendments. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday stepped in to assure news broadcasters that nothing would be finalised without "the widest possible consultation with all the stakeholders and eliciting their...

Freedom retreated in much of the world in 2008, the third year of global decline as measured by Freedom House's annual survey of political rights and civil liberties. Sub-Saharan Africa and the former Soviet Union saw the most reversals, while South Asia showed significant improvement. "The advance of freedom in South Asia was a rare bright spot in a year that was otherwise marked by setbacks and

The mayor and local police of the town of San Pedro Jicayán, in the state of Oaxaca, burnt 1,000 copies of a newspaper and detained a newspaper vendor for several hours on January 11. The newspaper Noticias Voz e Imagen had published information that reflected poorly on the administration of Mayor Leonardo Silva Palacios, the Centro de Periodismo y Etica Publica (CEPET) has reported. While on his...

Yasser Abu Hilaleh, the Al-Jazeera network's bureau chief in Amman, was beaten by riot police while he was covering a demonstration in Rabia on January 9. Abu Hilaleh, who was reporting on the protest involving clashes between demonstrators and the Gendarmerie Forces, was approached by two individuals dressed in civilian clothing who asked him to leave the scene and threatened to assault him, the...

A Rio de Janeiro court that oversees sentence implementation has reversed a decision to put Cláudio Orlando "Ratinho" de Nascimento, one of the convicted killers of Rede Globo television reporter Tim Lopes, on a semi-release regime that let him out of prison by day to visit relatives and friends, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. The prison administration granted "Ratinho" semi-release...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has condemned an attack on the home of Carlos Velasco Molina, editor of the weekly El Correo de Oaxaca, in the southwestern city of Oaxaca in the early hours of January 9. Two Molotov cocktails were thrown at his house, starting a fire but causing no injuries. Fearing the possibility of violence, Velasco had moved his family to a different location a few weeks ago...

The decision by troubled media company Mecom to sell its prize German assets is a golden opportunity to abandon reckless cutbacks and put quality journalism back on the media agenda, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has said. Mecom, a transnational giant based in Britain and funded by investment bankers, has bought up hundreds of newspaper titles across Europe over the past few years...

Four people have reportedly been arrested for the murder of journalist and women’s rights activist Uma Singh, who was stabbed to death in her home in the southeastern lowland city of Janakpur on January 11, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. At the same time, local news website Republica quoted state-owned Nepal TV on January 12 as reporting that an underground group had claimed...