2005-2014

(BIANET/IFEX) - The Gendarmerie Public Order Corps Command Military Court in Van, in southeast Turkey, has put in place a broadcast and print ban concerning the investigation of the eight soldiers taken hostage by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) on 21 October 2007 and released two weeks later. The decision was also announced on the website of the Radio and Television Supreme Commission (RTÜK)...

(BIANET/IFEX) - Following a complaint of the General Staff, "Sabah" journalist Umur Talu was investigated for an article in which he had reported on the dissatisfaction of sergeants within the army. Now Istanbul Press Prosecutor Nurten Altinok has decided to drop proceedings against the journalist. In his decision, he said: "(The author) had stated that, as part of the journalistic profession and...

The World Association of Newspapers (WAN) has called on all participants in next summer’s Beijing Olympics — the International Olympic Committee, athletes, sponsors and other partners — to "exert serious pressure" on China to hold the government to its promises of reform. A pedestrian walks past a banner promoting 2008 Olympic Games tickets in Beijing, April 2007. Massive demand caused the Beijing...

The Russian news agency RIA Novosti and two newspaper associations — the Catalan Newspaper Association in Spain and the European Association of Daily Newspapers in Minority and Regional Languages — have joined the World Association of Newspapers, which groups 77 publishers associations and 18,000 newspapers world-wide. The three organisations were formally admitted at a meeting of the WAN Board in...

The International Press Institute (IPI) has appointed IPI Deputy Director David Dadge as the new director of IPI. He will succeed Professor Johann P Fritz, who is retiring at the end of 2007. Dadge (41) has worked at the IPI secretariat in Vienna, Austria, since April 2000 as the editor of the IPI World Press Freedom Review and the press freedom advisor for Africa. Dadge specialises in security...

Newspaper websites saw ad spending rise 21.1 percent to $773 million in Q3 versus the same period last year, according to estimates from the Newspaper Association of America. While online ad spending has been slowing down in general, newspaper website ad spend gains appear relatively stable. As the NAA noted in Q306, the category’s growth was 23 percent; viewed sequentially, numbers this quarter...

The law is being bend, moulded and used to curtail the freedom to express. Legal hurdles have been placed in Mongolia for reporters and whistleblowers. The findings have been highlighted in Protecting Journalists’ Confidential Sources and Repealing the Criminal Defamation Legislation, brought out by Globe International. The 'UB Post', Mongolia´s independent weekly English newspaper in Ulaanbaatar...

The US military says it will recommend criminal charges against an Associated Press photographer detained in 2006 on suspicion of helping Iraqi insurgents. The Pentagon says additional evidence has come to light proving Bilal Hussein is a “terrorist media operative” who infiltrated the news agency. The case will be passed to Iraqi judges who will decide if he should be tried. AP says its own...

Attacks on freedom of expression riding on notorious laws are increasing in Bahrain. Recent incidents have prompted 26 International Freedom of Expression eXchange (IFEX) members and 21 other organisations, led by the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR), to urge the authorities to stop their latest clampdown on free expression. The organisations in their call to Bahraini government have...

Australia's proud international reputation for the strength of its democratic institutions and civil rights records received a blow with the latest findings of the 'Report of the Independent Audit into the State of Free Speech in Australia'. RSF focused on the anti-terrorism laws in Australia that “risk being abusively used against the press” such as phone-tapping without judicial supervision or...