2005-2014

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

India has been chosen as the host country for the 62nd World Newspaper Congress, 16th World Editors Forum and Info Services Expo in 2009, the World Association of Newspapers announced today. The global summit meetings of the world's press will be held March 22-25, 2009 in Hyderabad and will be hosted by the Indian Newspaper Society (INS). India has than 2000 daily newspapers in 100 languages with...

A new Dublin freesheet, the Dublin Informer, has been recently launched. The paper is a features paper, rather then newspaper. The Informer says it deliveries 250,000 copies directly to letterboxes once a fortnight. "You will notice that we don't have any news pages. That's because we are a features driven paper where each page has a dedicated content and we have striven to find contributors who...

(BIANET/IFEX) - The Gaziantep First Criminal Court of Peace has ordered the confiscation of the 32nd issue of the local "Coban Atesi" (Shepherd's Fire) newspaper after it published journalist Berkant Coslun's article entitled "Mother, Don't Send Me to the Army". The newspaper stands accused of "damaging the public image of military service." Judge Saban Kaplan decreed the confiscation of the issue...

(IFJ/IFEX) - Journalists from all corners of Africa yesterday launched a new continental federation to provide a unified voice for newsroom staff campaigning for better working conditions and professional rights. The Federation of African Journalists was launched at a congress in Abuja on the theme of "Building a Strong and United Voice for African Journalists" that included participants from 20...

(NUSOJ/IFEX) - The Somaliland Ministry of Information has drafted and proposed a new media law that undermines internationally accepted standards of freedom of expression. The new draft law increases the powers of the Ministry of Information to control the media. It also gives the Minister of Information the power to suspend media organizations, arrest journalists and take over ownership of media...

(IFJ/IFEX) - Today the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), the European group of the International Federation of Journalists, strongly condemned the repeated threats against journalists in Cyprus and in particular the latest intimidation of a writer writing about a love affair between a man and woman from either side of the divided community. "In a split country like Cyprus, we cannot accept...

BAGHDAD (AP) — An Iraqi television reporter who was kidnapped in Baghdad last week was freed Monday, his station said. Muntadhar al-Zaidi, a 28-year-old reporter for the Iraqi satellite channel al-Baghdadiyah, was released and appeared to be in good health, according to an editor at the channel who spoke on condition of anonymity because of safety concerns. No ransom was paid, the editor said. He...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's northern Kurdistan region have banned journalists from travelling to Kurdish rebel bases, officials said on Monday, accusing the media of aggravating the crisis with Turkey. Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) spokesman Jamal Abdullah said the semi-autonomous KRG would stop journalists going to Iraq's northern border and interviewing Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels...

NEW YORK (AP) — Yahoo Inc. has added 17 more newspapers to its group of online publishing partners, giving the group added heft as it approaches its one-year anniversary. Yahoo executives told The Associated Press that The Columbus Dispatch and 16 regional newspapers owned by The New York Times Co. have joined the consortium, bringing its total number to about 415 dailies and another 140 weeklies...