Features

24 October 2007

With FT case, Singapore retains vice-like grip over foreign media

Singapore's control mechanism over foreign media has once again come to light wth the recent incident involving Financial Times. The newspaper had to pay damages to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his father Lee Kuan Yewas for defamation, and was also compelled to apologise from the Lee family. According to the prosecution, the article seemed to suggest that Lee Jr might have got his job due to

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24 October 2007

Palestinian journalist suffering more at the hands of their own than Israel

Physical attacks against journalists have been the most common form of press freedom violations in Palestinian areas, according to a recent report. On many occasions, reporters and cameramen have been exposed to teargas and arrested. A report on press freedom in the Palestinian territories between January 1 and September 30 this year by the Palestine Partners Centre for Media Development has found

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24 October 2007

Egypt: Press freedom violations continue through legal means

Egypt continues to imprison journalists and editors who publish stories critical of President Hosni Mubarak and other high officials. Activist advocating minority rights in the country are also detained and fined. Basic right of freedom of religion and fundamental right of free expression are being explicitly violated. Members and partners of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX)

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24 October 2007

Media in Sri Lanka faces another threat, new policy curbs freedom

The ongoing violence in Sri Lanka is taking its toll on press freedom and freedom of expression. Journalists are directly in the line of fire; their safety and security have been compromised; some have even been forced to flee for their own safety. At the recent general meeting in Montevideo, Uruguay, the International Freedom of Expression eXchange (IFEX) appealed to the government, the

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24 October 2007

Tunisia still silencing voices through censorship and intimidation

Press freedom in Tunisia is going thorough one of its worst phases. There have been blatant attempt to silence subversive voices through censorship and intimidation. Judicial courts are appallingly used to infringe on the fundamental human right to freedom of expression, enshrined in Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which Tunisia has both signed and

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17 October 2007

Press Freedom Index: Eritrea replaces North Korea at bottom, top 10 are European

Eritrea has replaced North Korea in last place in an index measuring the level of press freedom in 169 countries throughout the world published Tuesday by Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) for the sixth year running. Outside Europe — in which the top 14 countries are located — no region of the world has been spared censorship or violence towards journalists. “There is nothing surprising about

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16 October 2007

Western Hemisphere: More attacks on free expression reported

Thirteen employees of media organisations have been killed and two disappeared in the past six months in the Western Hemisphere. According to preliminary reports presented Sunday by members of the Inter American Press Association (IAPA), media freedom is increasingly under attack in the Western Hemisphere, especially in countries such as Venezuela and Colombia. Final reports will be released

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14 October 2007

World celebrates "right to know day" as the struggle continues

Civil society groups in more than 60 countries celebrated the International Right to Know Day on September 28. Documentation of the past year's achievements of the right to access government information in various countries were released by ARTICLE 19, Privacy International, and the Open Society Justice Initiative. "Although the global movement suffered setbacks in 2007, the bottomline is that

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14 October 2007

Anniversary of Anna Politkovskaya killing marked with new call to end impunity

Press freedom and human rights organisations have renewed calls for a thorough investigation into the murder of crusading Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya and an end to impunity. October 7 marked the first anniversary of the brutal murder of Politkovskaya, a renowned Kremlin critic who exposed human rights abuses by Russian forces in Chechnya. Politkovskaya, who worked with the Novaya Gazeta

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14 October 2007

IFEX members launch Burma Action Group to support journalists and protesters

Twenty members of the International Freedom of Expression eXchange (IFEX) have set up a Burma Action Group to support protesters and journalists in their struggle against the recent military crackdown in the country. Participants at the IFEX general meeting last week in Montevideo, led by Soe Myint of Burmese exile-run news agency Mizzima News, called for a factfinding mission to the notoriously

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