Golden Maunganidze, the editor of the privately owned weekly, The Masvingo Mirror, accused of defaming ZANU PF Masvingo provincial chairman Lovemore Matuke, was freed by the courts after the state declined to prosecute him on February 24. The State said there was no evidence warranting prosecution. Maunganidze was arrested on February 23 in the southern town of Masvingo on allegations of...
Harare Magistrate Don Ndirowei removed from remand and granted an application for referral to the Supreme Court submitted by The Standard journalists Nevanji Madanhire and Nqobani Ndlovu after the state failed to oppose the application on February 28. Madanhire, who is the editor of The Standard, and Ndlovu, a reporter for the paper, are being charged under Section 31 of the Criminal Law...
Prison terms of more than 204 years in total were the verdicts for 25 defendants who attended a demonstration in October 2008. Journalist Vedat Yilidiz from the Dicle News Agency (DIHA) and Guneydogu Ekspres (South-east Express) newspaper reporter Lokman Dayan were among those convicted in a hearing which took place on February 24. Yilidiz and Dayan were attending the protest march on assignment...
The group of nine newspapers supporting Alassane Ouattara, the internationally recognised President of Cote d'Ivoire, began an indefinite suspension of their publications on March 1 to protest against constant harassment and intimidation by pro-Gbagbo forces. The Media Foundation for West Africa's (MFWA) correspondent reported that what prompted the action of the newspapers was the suspension of...
US ambassador to Kosovo Christopher Dell has written an open letter to the country's Independent Media Commission criticising Express, Koha Ditore and Koha Vision TV for using blown-up photos of text messages on a smartphone screen to show that he provided the country's new president with last-minute advice in parliament before a vote that secured him the presidency. It was clear from the photos...
The BBC's Albanian Service has made its last broadcast after nearly 20 years serving audiences in Albania, Kosovo and Macedonia. It is one of five language services closing after cuts announced by the BBC World Service in January. The details: [ Link] The Albanian Service first operated in 1940-1967, then resumed broadcasts in 1993 as Albania emerged from communism. The service came into its own...
Brazil’s Communications Minister Paulo Bernardo says he wants to “comb through” the omnibus bill dealing telecommunications and broadcast regulation, O Estado de S. Paulo reports. The goal is to clarify the languages and provisions in the controversial bill that was initially proposed by Bernardo’s predecessor, Franklin Martins, according to the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas...
Kabul Weekly claims it has been put out of business after daring to criticise President Hamid Karzai. On Wednesday staff met with their editor, Mohammad Faheem Dashty, for the final time after producing the last edition of a newspaper that has been a regular sight on the streets of the capital since 2002, according to a report in the Guardian. Dashty said he had no choice but to shut down after...
Deaths tied to drug violence and grave human rights violations have increased significantly since President Felipe Calderón deployed the military in 2007 to combat Mexico's drug cartels, says Human Rights Watch. An estimated 35,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence during the Calderón administration, including more than 15,000 in 2010. Mexico's National Human Rights Commission has...
Authorities in Libya on Friday prevented foreign journalists invited to report in the country from covering the crackdown on protesters in the capital, according to news reports. In southern Iraq, anti-riot police attacked at least five local journalists covering protests in Basra, according to news reports. Hundreds of anti-Qaddafi protesters gathered in Tajoura, a suburb of Tripoli, after Muslim...
