2005-2014

New York, April 28, 2006 - The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the approval of two measures by the Mexico City Legislative Assembly - one decriminalizing defamation, libel and slander, and the other enabling journalists to withhold the identity of confidential sources. "We're gratified that the Mexico City assembly has adopted these measures, which represent important milestones in the...

27 April 2006 - A Yemeni court decided yesterday to postpone the trial session of Akram Sabra and Yehia Al-Abed, editors of Al-Hurriya Newspaper who are being charged for publishing cartoons offensive to the Prophet Mohammed, to a session on 17 May, while freezing the license to print the three newspapers that printed the cartoons. The Yemeni Ministry of Information had filed a complaint against...

New York, May 1, 2006 - The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by the criminal charges brought against two Danish reporters accused of leaking state secrets by publishing intelligence reports that questioned the existence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. Danish journalists say it is the first time that reporters have been indicted in their country for leaking state secrets, Agence...

(CEHURDES/IFEX) - CEHURDES has condemned the acts of intimidation and threats against a group of journalists by Maoist cadres in the Nepali capital, Kathmandu. On 28 April 2006, Maoist cadres aggressively questioned, threatened and harassed Kumar Shrestha, a photo-journalist with Himalayan Films Pvt. Ltd., Amit Sthapit of "Yuva Hunkaar" and Bimal Raj Gautam, Shrestha's assistant, as they were...

BEIJING (Reuters) - A coalition of Chinese Web activists has launched a petition decrying censorship of the Internet and challenging the legality of government information controls on China's more than 100 million net users. Hundreds of citizens signed the petition along with representatives of 13 local Chinese Web sites recently closed or targeted by censors. It began circulating on Saturday via...

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Iraq Civil Society and Independent Media Program (ICSP) works to strengthen Iraq's emerging commercial and public service media, emphasizing professional news and public affairs reporting to better inform and engage the Iraqi public in the democratic process. The ICSP program provides varied and ongoing support for developing media outlets at...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates: From the clusters of plasma screens that adorn the red-tinted walls of al-Arabiya, one of the Arab world's most influential news channels, the battles of the Middle East aired on an hourly bulletin: more carnage in Iraq and a standoff over Iran's nuclear program. At the small, cluttered desk of Nabil Khatib, another struggle, perhaps no less important, was underway...

Bhutan has for the first time got a private-run weekly newspaper -- clear signs of the Himalayan kingdom transforming itself from monarchy to democracy. The first edition of the Bhutan Times hit the stands on Sunday and recorded a total sell-out hours after it was published. "With freedom of the press comes great responsibility," Bhutan's Prime Minister Lyonpo Sangay Ngedup was quoted as saying by...

I wasn't there, but by most accounts last week's gathering of the nation's newspaper editors in Seattle was a real downer. The talk from the ballroom to the barroom was about the dimly seen future of newspapers. Rosy Scenario was not on the program. David Shribman, editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, wrote from Seattle: "Criticized on the left, besieged by the right, squeezed by dropping...

Jaipur, April. 30 (PTI): The confederation of newspapers and news agency organisations, an umbrella organisation of apex media trade unions, today asked the Centre to immediately announce setting up of the new wage boards for journalists and non-journalist employees in the newspaper industry and said it would draw up an agitation plan soon. Addressing the valedictory session of the two-day meeting...