2005-2014

28 May 2007

Over 80 journalists in Russia 'murdered' since 1993

MOSCOW -- More than 80 journalists have been murdered for their work in Russia since 1993, the world's largest journalists' organization said Monday. Of 289 journalists killed in Russia over the last 14 years, "more than 80 of the deaths resulted from the work the journalists were doing directly," said John Crowfoot, researcher at the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). Speaking at the...

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28 May 2007

Indian newspapers enjoy circulation boom

NEW DELHI — Obituaries for newspapers are already being written in the United States and much of Europe, with the rise of the Internet and shrinking attention spans listed as the causes of death. But the news hasn't made it to India. Here, more than 150 million people read a newspaper every day — compared with 97 million Americans and 48 million Germans. Circulation numbers in India are soaring...

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28 May 2007

Mauritania: Editor jailed after accusing businessman of drug trafficking

Reporters Without Borders called today for the immediate release of Abdel Fettah Ould Ebeidna, managing editor of the daily newspaper Al-Aqsa, who was sent to prison in Nouakchott yesterday because of a libel complaint against him by a businessman. “His imprisonment is a very ominous sign for the media at a time when the country is in the grip of a major drugs scandal,” the worldwide press freedom...

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28 May 2007

Venezuelan news media are shifting Chávez's way

CARACAS: Arturo Sarmiento speaks English polished at Sandhurst, the British military school. He made fortunes trading oil and importing whiskey. Now Sarmiento, just 35 and a staunch supporter of President Hugo Chávez, owns an expanding television network here. As tempers flare around Chávez's decision not to renew the license of RCTV, the country's oldest broadcaster and a vocal critic...

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28 May 2007

US: Magazines feeling postal pinch

THE COST OF getting magazines into your mailbox will shoot up July 15. How much? It depends. Magazine publishers are facing a radical postage rate restructuring that favors those with large circulations and transfers costs to small- and mid-circulation publications. Past increases to periodical postage were applied fairly equally across all publications. But this time, things are drastically...

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28 May 2007

Political party targets media house with harassment over its reporting on war crimes in former Yugoslavia

(ANEM/IFEX) - BELGRADE, May 28, 2007 - The Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) strongly condemns the continuous pressure on and attacks against media that report on war crimes in former Yugoslavia. ANEM also condemns the glorification of those indicted in war crimes processes and the denial of these crimes. On 26 May 2007, several hundred members of the Serbian Radical Party and the...

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28 May 2007

Iran lifts ban on Al Jazeera

TEHRAN -- Iran Monday lifted a ban on Al Jazeera imposed after the pan-Arab satellite television network aired a program deemed insulting to the most revered Shiite cleric in Iraq. "Following the relevant authorities' apology ... Al Jazeera's Arabic and English services can resume work in Iran," Iran's head of foreign media, Mohsen Moqaddaszadeh, said in a statement carried by the official IRNA...

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28 May 2007

Canada: Journalist's legal battle to protect sources continues

(CJFE/IFEX) - (Toronto, May 28, 2007) Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) believes that the independence of journalists is at stake as Derek Finkle's fight to quash a subpoena against him goes back to court on May 29. CJFE has joined with the Professional Writers Association of Canada (PWAC) and the Writers' Union of Canada as interveners in the case. The subpoena was issued in 2006 to...

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27 May 2007

Palestinian official says BBC Gaza reporter alive

LONDON (Reuters) - A Palestinian official said on Sunday missing BBC Gaza correspondent Alan Johnston was alive and well and he hoped he would be released soon. Johnston, 44, disappeared on March 12 while driving in Gaza. Ghazi Hamad, spokesman for the Palestinian cabinet, told Sky News he could confirm Johnston was alive and being held captive. The Palestinian government had made great efforts to...

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26 May 2007

Chávez raises volume of government's voice

CARACAS, Venezuela -- In the 1990s, Venezuelan journalist José Vicente Rangel hosted a television talk show whose aggressive style and muckraking led to the downfall of President Carlos Andrés Pérez. Now, after eight years as President Hugo Chávez's deputy, Rangel is back on television, interviewing and breaking news on "José Vicente Today." But instead of airing the bare-knuckles journalism for...

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