2005-2014

The International Press Institute (IPI) has obtained a report from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) indicating that Turkey is currently holding 57 journalists in prison – apparently more than any other country. The report followed an analysis of more than 70 journalists the OSCE conducted in conjunction with Erol Önderoğlu, editor-in-chief of the BIANET Independent...

(Mizzima): The Burmese junta has announced that the press censorship policy will be relaxed in accordance with the country's new Constitution, according to media reports. "The first step will be made on the day the new government takes office. But, with freedom of the press, the publications need to take responsibility," the "Flower News Journal" quoted censorship board director Tint Swe as saying...

The Isle of Man Examiner is to end more than 131 years as a broadsheet newspaper to instead adopt a tabloid format, says a Press Gazette report. The Examiner, one of three titles produced by the Johnston Press-owned Isle of Man Newspapers, will switch to tabloid format on May 10. The weekly paper has been a broadsheet since 1880 when it was founded by Samuel Keown Broadbent, a Methodist who vowed...

Five newspapers line a vendor's makeshift table built from cardboard and sticks but most customers go straight for Isolezwe, one of South Africa's growing Zulu-language dailies, says an Agence France-Presse (AFP) report. "I guess people feel comfortable reading in their language," says Blessings Kupe from his stand at a busy Johannesburg taxi rank where he offers the country's most-read papers...

The Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) is protesting over the criminal sentence for libel handed down to Stojan Markovic, owner, director and editor of Radio Ozon, an ANEM member station based in Cacak. The Primary Court in Cacak found Markovic guilty of slandering former minister Velimir Ilic. The decision was based on Markovic's comment "The Time for Settling the Bills has Come...

One of four Al Jazeera journalists detained by Libyan forces has been released after a bizarre turn of events that saw the team being arrested, freed and then rearrested. Lotfi Al Masoudi, a Tunisian national, crossed the border into Tunisia on Sunday night. An Al Jazeera spokesman said that the network is "glad to see the end of the ordeal that Lotfi unnecessarily went through" while calling for...

Bahraini authorities lifted a ban on the main opposition newspaper Sunday after its three top editors resigned to save the paper from a campaign to muzzle anti-government media and crack down on the Shiite opposition in the Sunni-ruled Gulf nation. Al-Wasat, the country's most popular newspaper, did not appear Sunday after Bahrain's Information Ministry ordered it to close down. Al-Wasat's online...

The Reuters news agency says Syrian authorities have freed one of its photographers after holding him for six days. Reuters said the 50-year-old Khaled al-Hariri was freed Sunday and told colleagues that he was well. Al-Hariri was one of four Reuters journalists held over the last week in Syria. The other three have already been released and ordered to leave the country. A fifth Reuters journalist...

Another new newspaper has been revealed in Zimbabwe, making a surprise arrival on the streets on Thursday, reports swradioafrica.com. Dummy copies of the paper titled The Mail were handed out free to the public on Thursday, ahead of the paper’s official launch, set for some time next week. The paper, carrying a headline story that says: “Restrictions on rallies biased,” appears to be a far cry...

Zaman Ali, a reporter who covered organised crime for the Urdu-language newspaper Extra News, was brutally murdered on April 2 in the Karachi suburb of Lyari, one of the most dangerous areas of the city. “The number of journalists killed in Pakistan in the past 13 months now totals 14,” Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) said. “We are appalled by this permanent state...