Features

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

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

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)

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

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

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

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

Turkey continues to use the judicial system to curb free expression. Journalists are still being charged under Article 301 of Turkey's Penal Code, which makes "insulting Turkishness" a crime punishable by prison terms. In the first six months of this year, 451 people were involved in 94 trials for using their right to freedom of expression out of which 17 were under Article 301. The controversial

The Valle del Cauca department in western Colombia has one of the highest rates of press freedom violations in the country, forcing journalists into silence, the Foundation for Press Freedom (Fundación para la Libertad de Prensa, FLIP) has found. According to the analysis, from 2003 to mid-2007, 50 violations were documented: 35 journalists were threatened, five of whom fled into exile; and three

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