2005-2014

7 August 2007

Germany to investigate 17 journalists in CIA prison documents leak case

Seventeen German journalists are under investigation in the alleged leak of classified documents given to a parliamentary committee. The documents related to a parliamentary inquiry into possible German government complicity in CIA prisoner flights and the detention of two men. German opposition parties have condemned a criminal investigation into journalists accused of quoting from classified...

More
7 August 2007

Ethiopia jails four journalists for 2005 violence coverage

Ethiopia's High Court has imposed heavy prison sentences on four journalists jailed in connection with their coverage of deadly post-election unrest in 2005, after the journalists waived their defence and pleaded guilty in anticipation of a pardon, according to the Comittee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). All of them worked for now-defunct Amharic-language weeklies. Editors Dawit Kebede of Hadar and...

More
7 August 2007

Manipur gags media, bans publication of propaganda material of militants

The Manipur government has banned publication of any propaganda of unlawful organisations or terrorist groups. Newspapers, books or printed documents would be forfeited if they contain news items which were considered to be subversive and a threat to the integrity of the country, the government decreed in an official order issued by Principal Secretary (Home) PBO Warjri. The state home department...

More
6 August 2007

Mexico: Journalist shot and wounded after corruption reports

August 6, 2007—Mexican journalist Alberto Fernández Portilla was shot and wounded early Sunday morning as he arrived at his home in Salina Cruz, a Pacific port city in the southern state of Oaxaca. The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Mexican authorities to investigate the attack. Fernández told CPJ that the shooting occurred around 1:50 a.m. as he returned alone from a dinner at a...

More
6 August 2007

Santa Barbara paper turns over photos in gang killing probe

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. A newspaper reluctantly turned over 144 unpublished photographs taken during a State Street gang fight that resulted in the stabbing death of a teenager. Santa Barbara Daily Sound editor and publisher Jeramy Gordon, calling it "a sad day for journalism and for our rights as Americans," turned over the March 14 gang fight photos to Superior Court. Judge Brian Hill ordered...

More
6 August 2007

US Congress to probe Yahoo over jailed Chinese journalist Shi Tao

A US congressional committee plans to investigate whether Yahoo Inc lied during testimony over its role in a human rights case in China that sent journalist Shi Tao to jail for 10 years. Announcing the investigation, House of Representatives foreign affairs committee chairman Tom Lantos, a California Democrat, Friday last it would be shameful if it was confirmed that Yahoo had known why the...

More
6 August 2007

Iran shuts down leading reformist newspaper yet again

Iran has closed down prominent pro-reform daily Shargh (East) three months after it was allowed to resume publicaiton following a ban, its director said on Monday. Shargh is the second publication critical of the government to be shut down since July. The closure of Shargh coincides with what rights groups and diplomats say is a broad crackdown on dissenting voices in the Islamic state, which is...

More
5 August 2007

NY Times to move to smaller, more standard format

NEW YORK (AP) -- The New York Times is moving to a smaller format starting Monday, cutting 1.5 inches from its width and moving to what is becoming a newspaper industry standard of 12 inches. The change, which the company originally announced a year ago, will result in cost savings of about $10 million per year, spokeswoman Diane McNulty said. Several other major newspapers have already adopted...

More
5 August 2007

Morocco seizes latest issues of sister weeklies for “disrespecting king”

Reporters Without Borders condemns the government’s confiscation yesterday of the latest issues of the Arabic-language weekly Nichane and the French-language weekly TelQuel for “failing to respect” King Mohammed. “Press freedom violations are mounting dangerously in Morocco,” the organisation said. “The political and judicial authorities must abandon this archaic practice of systematically...

More
4 August 2007

Can't gag media in a democracy, says HC

Lucknow --- In the hearing related to Ambedkar Sports Complex, additional advocate general JN Mathur said that certain news items published on Friday in an English daily (TOI) regarding the stadium facilities were highly contemptuous. On this, the bench said that the government "could take appropriate action in law if it thinks so but the throat of media cannot be gagged in democracy". The bench...

More