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A new platform for crowdfunded photojournalism which aims to build a community around projects has received more than USD 20,000 in backing, just over a week since it went live, according to journalism.co.uk. Some details: [ Link] Emphas.is works by inviting story proposals and an expenses budget estimate from professional photojournalists, to be reviewed by a board of advisers working against a...

There has been an alarming increase in threats and violence against journalists in Honduras. There have been seven cases in the space of 10 days and all the media involved are ones that spoke out against the June 2009 coup d’état, according to Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). The first in the latest spate of cases was the March 13 shooting of Franklin Meléndez, the...

A nearly fatal shooting attack was carried out Wednesday on blogger Ricardo Gama on a Rio de Janeiro street was linked to his blog, which is often very scathing about the local authorities. The police said they were not ruling it out, according to Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). Gama, 40, was in the Rio neighbourhood of Copacabana when individuals in a black car...

Mazen Darwish, the head of the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression, was summoned for questioning by intelligence officials at 11 a.m. Wednesday in Damascus and has not been heard of since. He has almost certainly been arrested, according to Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). Darwish was detained for four hours on the evening of March 22 after responding...

Last week in Honduras, a board member of the La Voz de Zacate Grande community radio station was shot in the leg by residents upset about the station's coverage. Police sat idly by. It was just the latest in a string of incidents that highlights the government's failure to investigate attacks on journalists - despite promises it made before the UN's Human Rights Council in November, says IFEX...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has expressed concern at reports that journalists in Chhattisgarh were prevented from visiting the site of a major security operation against Maoist insurgents, to report on its aftermath. According to reports Wednesday in two major English-language dailies, The Hindu and The Times of India, confirmed by IFJ sources, journalists travelling to the...

An alliance of media businesses opposed to Rupert Murdoch's bid to take full control of BSkyB said it is "fanciful" to hope Sky News will be kept independent after the proposed takeover, the Press Association has reported. Excerpts: [ Link] The coalition - including BT, Guardian Media Group, Associated Newspapers, Trinity Mirror, Northcliffe Media and the Telegraph Media Group - argued that...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) this weekend formally endorsed the appointment of Brazilian journalist and union activist Elisabeth Costa as the new General Secretary to replace Aidan White who is standing down at the end of this month after 24 years in the post. Elisabeth Costa is a veteran campaigner for union rights and press freedom in Latin America and has been a leading...

Gatot Machali, the manager of Radio Era Baru, a radio station based in Batam (in Riau province), appeared before a Jakarta administrative court Tuesday on a charge of “broadcasting without authorisation and disrupting neighbouring frequencies” under the Telecommunications Law He could be sentenced to six years in jail if found guilty. The court has not yet issued a verdict. Paris-based press...

On March 10, most privately-owned radio stations and newspapers in Lome, capital of Togo, suspended their normal activities in protest against the continued closure of three radio stations since December 2010. The Media Foundation for West Africa's (MFWA) correspondent in Togo reported that while the radio stations played music throughout the day, the newspapers, with the exception of state-owned...