2005-2014

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana High Court would henceforth monitor the progress of the CBI probe into the murder of Sirsa-based journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati and two other matters wherein the chief and the management of Dera Sacha Sauda, Sirsa, were allegedly involved. At the same time, the agency has been asked to submit the progress report on monthly basis, first such report to come in...

New Delhi, May 19: The government has appointed a committee to go into the demands for revival of abolished distinguished Journalist Category for Parliament passes. "In 1996, distinguished category of journalist was abolished. There is a strong demand to restore it. I have appointed a committee to go into this demand," Parliamentary Affairs Minister P R Dasmunsi told reporters. He said after the...

BAGHDAD -- The recent killings of six Iraqi journalists have rattled the country's fledgling press corps, a battle-worn crew that has persisted in covering the nation's turmoil while suffering dozens of dead at the hands of insurgents, government troops and even American forces. "We are scared working as journalists," said Thamer, a burly radio reporter, sitting in the threadbare cafe of the al...

SAN DIEGO--Hu Shuli, editor of the Beijing-based Caijing Magazine, says without fail she is asked some version of the same question each time she travels abroad. "What is taboo for Chinese journalists?" "Foreign journalists pay too much attention to what is taboo in China" Hu says. "We don't pay attention to it. There are so many important news stories. If a story's important enough, we'll find a...

Wellington - Angry Chinese students at New Zealand's Massey University protested against a student newspaper's front cover spoof depicting Mao Zedong wearing a dress, according to news reports on Friday. Tempers flared outside the university's library in Palmerston North as about 50 Chinese students and a Chinese lecturer confronted staff of the student paper Chaff, the Manawatu Standard reported...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has renewed its concerns about the safety of journalists in the Philippines after a week of violent attacks on media workers. The situation for journalists in the Philippines has gone from bad to worse this week when a journalist was violently attacked on May 16, 2006, just hours after Albert Orsolino, a photojournalist with Saski Ngayon, was...

(MISA/IFEX) - On 18 May 2006, the Supreme Court of Swaziland reversed a July 2005 decision by the High Court of Swaziland that obliged the "Times of Swaziland" newspaper to pay Swaziland's deputy prime minister, Albert Shabangu, a staggering E750 000 (approx. US$116,000) for alleged defamation. Shabangu lost the case with costs and has to pay more than E60 000 (approx. US$10,000) in legal fees...

(New York, May 19, 2006) - The former parliamentarian and activist Térence Nahimana should be released at once, Human Rights Watch said today, adding that his imprisonment raises questions about freedom of expression in Burundi. Nahimana was jailed after he questioned why the Burundian government had not opened peace negotiations with the National Liberation Forces (FNL), a rebel movement that...

(FLIP/IFEX) - FLIP is concerned about several acts of aggression against journalists in the Cauca and Huila departments during indigenous marches against the Free Trade Deal (FTA) and other public policies of concern to these communities in the country's south. In Cauca department: At least four media personnel from Cauca have been illegally held since 17 May 2006 at the police station in Piendamó...

New York, May 19, 2006 - The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns an arson attack on the Brazilian newspaper Tribuna Livre in São Sebastião, which had covered nearly a week of fighting between criminal gangs and police in the nearby city of São Paulo, according to national and international press reports. Three masked gunmen stormed into the offices of the daily early on Thursday. They beat...