2005-2014

A NEWSPAPER cartoonist has dared to defy a taboo on depictions of China’s leaders — and has had his wrist slapped. Kuang Biao, who works for the News Express in the southern city of Guangzhou, has been suspended for a month for his cartoon, which showed a weeping Hu Jintao, the Chinese President. Mr Kuang is allowed to continue to draw — but only under a pseudonym. He told The Times that he always...

India has become one of the first countries in the world to grant government accreditation to journalists working on the Internet, in a clear acknowledgement of the use of modern technology in disbursing news. Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, the Union minister for information and broadcasting in the United Progressive Alliance government, gave his approval last week for providing Press Information Bureau...

NEW DELHI: The Indian Media Group (IMG) wants the government to consult the yet-to-be formed Broadcasting Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) before formulating any policy in the broadcasting sector. Also, the provisions of the proposed Broadcast Bill must be applied to public broadcaster Prasar Bharati as well, IMG has said in its inputs on the draft broadcast Bill sent to the information and...

The Prophet Muhammed cartoon crisis between the West and the Muslim world has now also created a row between the head of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) and the Danish Education and Religious Affairs minister during a conference held to boost dialogue and solidarity among civilizations. Speaking about the cartoon crisis OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, who is also a Turkish...

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Five journalists from Australia`s "Channel Seven" television station will be deported later on Thursday for violating Indonesia`s immigration law by entering Papua province on tourist visas. "They have clearly violated their visa-on-arrival which is only valid for tourist activities or a social visit, not for working," Desra Percaya, a spokesman of the Indonesian Foreign...

Radio Liberty journalist Ogulsapar Muradova has died in prison in Turkmenistan with reported injuries to her head, the station says. A relative reported the news after family members were asked by officials to identify her body in a mortuary in the capital, Ashgabat. Her children are quoted as saying the body has "marks on the neck" and a "large wound" on the head. Turkmen officials reportedly...

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan may consider granting permission for the shooting of a film about slain U.S. reporter Daniel Pearl, an official said on Thursday. Police last month detained crew members who were shooting for the movie "A Mighty Heart" near the hotel in the southern city of Karachi from where the Wall Street Journal reporter was abducted in early 2002. Actress Angelina Jolie will...

VILNIUS - Lithuania’s State Security Department came under attack last week after detaining a journalist for procuring and intending to publish state secrets. Both the president and journalists decried the move as a violation of the freedom of the press, and several MPs have taken the department’s top officials to task. The department, meanwhile, has launched an investigation into the leak, and...

Srinagar: The Chief Justice J&K High Court on Wednesday heard the arguments in the case filed by Ghulam Nabi Shaida, Editor of local Urdu daily “Wadi Ki Awaz” against Chandan Mitra, Editor of New Delhi-based daily “The Pioneer” and another case seeking transfer of the petition filed by Mitra against Shaida before the High Court at Jammu. On the last date of hearing, the counsel appearing for Mitra...

According to the National Readership Survey, the number of readers of newspapers has remained more or less unchanged. Although the readership figures of dailies are generally on a slight decline, no statistically significant changes have happened between September 2005 and the spring of 2006, verifies research director Marjo Malik from Taloustutkimus, a privately-owned market research company. The...