Burma languishes at bottom 10 in the latest world press freedom rankings issued by the Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF). Though media have been strictly controlled in Burma since the 1962 military coup, the state of journalism and the treatment of journalists, especially after the September anti- government mass protests has worsened, reports International Freedom of
A European court has awarded damages to an investigative journalist whose home was raided and computers confiscated after he published articles alleging fraud within the European Union. In its ruling for the German reporter, Hans-Martin Tillack, the European Court of Human Rights said Tuesday that the right to protect the identity of sources is an essential pillar of freedom of the press. Though
The Sri Lanka military air strike last week on the Voice of Tigers, the radio station of the Tamil Tiger rebels in the north of the country, is being described as a war crime. Three of the station’s staff, who had not been given any warning, and six other civilians were killed in the bombardment by air force jets. "Voice of Tigers is a propaganda radio operated by the LTTE rebels, but the rules
Kazakhstan will become the first ex-Soviet state to assume the chairmanship of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The oil-rich Central Asian state will occupy the chair in 2010 -- one year later than it had sought, OSCE Deputy Spokesperson Virginie Coulloudon told Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (REF/RL) in Madrid just after the two-day summit's final press
A journalist’s claim that 11 of his close relatives were murdered in Iraq last weekend is false. Amman-based Iraqi journalist Dia al-Kawwaz had claimed on November 26 that 11 members of his immediate family were shot by gunmen the previous day in Baghdad. “We are obviously relieved to learn that the Kawwaz family is safe and sound but this journalist’s behaviour is unacceptable,†Reporters
The International Press Institute (IPI) has appointed IPI Deputy Director David Dadge as the new director of IPI. He will succeed Professor Johann P Fritz, who is retiring at the end of 2007. Dadge (41) has worked at the IPI secretariat in Vienna, Austria, since April 2000 as the editor of the IPI World Press Freedom Review and the press freedom advisor for Africa. Dadge specialises in security
On October 7, 2006, after a six-month trial, the three hired assassins who killed Marlene Garcia-Esperat, a Filipino newspaper columnist and radio commentator who probed government corruption, were sentenced to life imprisonment. Garcia-Esperat was gunned down in front of her children in the dining room of her home on March 24, 2005. She had received many threats and had requested police
An inquest report has established with great detail that the Indonesian army was responsible for the death of five British, Australian and New Zealander journalists in East Timor in 1975. The report clearly shows they were eliminated because they too much about Indonesia’s invasion of East Timor, which was just getting under way. “The detailed and courageous inquest conducted by Dorelle Pinch
The civil war, internal displacement, limited access to information and restrictions on journalists’ freedom of movement have proved to be great obstacles to press freedom in Sri Lanka, particularly in the country’s eastern provinces. These are some of the findings of the fact-finding mission by representatives of the International Press Institute (IPI), the International Federation of
All four journalists arrested recently have been released by the Senegal government in a bid to “defuse relations" between the press and the government, but the storm has far from blown over. All four were released Thursday. Besides the four arrested journalists, who were all held in detention, a fifth has been facing defamation charges after he published a book that accused employees of
