2005-2014

A Rabat court Friday fined Al-Jazeera's Rabat bureau chief, Hassan Rachidi, 50,000 dirhams (approx. 4,500 euros) under article 42 of the press law because the Qatar-based satellite TV station wrongly reported in June that people were killed in clashes between police and protesters in the southern port city of Sidi Ifni. "We welcome the fact that the judges had the good sense not to impose a jail...

Guardian News & Media has acquired ContentNext, publisher of media and technology business blog paidContent.org, a sign of the growing importance of such sites to traditional media companies, says a Reuters report. ContentNext's founder and editor, Rafat Ali, and Chief Executive Nathan Richardson would continue to run the company as a standalone business, said the privately held Guardian, which...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has regretted the seizure of three privately-owned broadcast media outlets on July 8 - two Quito-based TV stations (Gamavisión and TC Televisión) and a radio station based in the western city of Guayaquil (Radio Sucre) - which resulted in a few changes to their programming but not in any interruption in their broadcasts. Regardless of the grounds for the state's...

Hundreds of Afghan journalists and writers took part in demonstrations on July 8 in 15 provinces to call for the release of Sayed Parvez Kambakhsh, a young journalist under sentence of death. This exemplary show of solidarity came as Kambakhsh's appeal against his conviction has ground to a halt in Kabul and no date has been set for the next hearing. "The appeal court should have quashed Kambakhsh...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has called for vigilance to protect journalists' safety in Pakistan after the latest alarming spike in abductions of journalists which has ended with the release of Wiqar Kiyani, a journalist working for the Guardian newspaper of the United Kingdom, after his mysterious disappearance on July 6 from his home in Islamabad. Kiyani's case represents...

One month before the start of the Beijing Olympics, China needs to make enormous progress to ensure the free access it promised journalists when the Games were awarded, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said Tuesday. Twenty-six Chinese journalists remain in prison and heavy government censorship remains in place despite Beijing's broad assurances—made in its 2001 bid to host the event...

Ecuadoran government agents seized two private television stations early Tuesday morning and shuttered a critical radio station late Monday night. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed by allegations that the actions were politically motivated. Members of the government’s Deposit Guarantee Agency (AGD), backed by dozens of police officers, seized the Quito offices of local...

The Niger communication ministry has decided to close down Niamey's House of the Press, a centre used by journalists for various activities, including training seminars organised by the French and US embassies. Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) voiced its support for the journalist organisations and House of the Press members who issued a joint statement on July 2 saying they were...

In what could be a setback to the campaign for legal protection of journalists under threat, the Manila Court of Appeals denied on June 27 a petition for a writ of amparo filed by an Oriental Mindoro-based journalist, according to the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR). Oriental Mindoro is a province approximately 140 km south of Manila. In a 21-page decision penned by Associate...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has expressed concern over the reported disappearance of Wiqar Kiyani, a journalist working for the Guardian newspaper of the United Kingdom, shortly after he returned to Islamabad from a reporting assignment in Karachi. According to reports received from the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), an IFJ affiliate, Kiyani's home was raided...