News

14 January 2011
Concern as Vietnam plays 'national security' censorship card

Concern as Vietnam plays 'national security' censorship card

A new executive decree issued on January 6 in Vietnam that will give authorities greater powers to penalise journalists, editors, and bloggers who report on issues deemed as sensitive to national security, New York-based press freedom group Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has said. The new media regulations were issued amid a mounting clampdown on dissent shortly before Wednesday's opening...

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14 January 2011

Zimbabwe hikes media fees under draconian media law

Zimbabwe's power-sharing government should repeal the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), the Committee to Protect Journalists said after a late 2010 amendment to the legislation hiked mandatory registration and accreditation fees for the press working in the country by as much as 400 percent. Since 2002, AIPPA, a draconian piece of media-licensing legislation, has forced...

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14 January 2011
Geo TV reporter Wali Khan Babar gunned down in Karachi

Geo TV reporter Wali Khan Babar gunned down in Karachi

Geo TV reporter Wali Khan Babar was shot and killed in Karachi Thursday evening, shortly after covering gang violence in the city, according to several Pakistani journalists. At least two assailants intercepted Babar's car at 9:20 p.m., shooting him multiple times in the head and neck, Geo TV Managing Director Azhar Abbas told New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). One assailant...

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14 January 2011
Governments continue to dominate terrestrial TV channels in the Arab World

Governments continue to dominate terrestrial TV channels in the Arab World

The history of terrestrial TV channels in the Arab World goes back to the early 1960s. Until the booming era of free to air satellite TV, terrestrial TV was the main source of entertainment and information for people in the Arab World. Local terrestrial TV stations are still alive in the region, but regulations and market dynamics have ensured that -except in a few countries- the number of...

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14 January 2011
France wants to put Internet regulation on the G8 agenda

France wants to put Internet regulation on the G8 agenda

A member of French President Nicolas Sarkozy's administration has that Sarkozy wanted to gather representatives of Internet operators from each of the G8 countries prior to the upcoming international summit. That summit, which is currently slated for May 26-27, is to be held in Deauville, in northern France, according to Deutsche Welle. "The idea is that representatives from each G8 nation should...

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14 January 2011
Journalist summarily deported after residing in Northern Cyprus since 1991

Journalist summarily deported after residing in Northern Cyprus since 1991

Journalist Necmettin Çapa was expelled Tuesday by the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (a de facto state recognised only by Turkey). A Turkish citizen of Kurdish origin who has lived in Northern Cyprus since 1991, Çapa was deported to Turkey together with his entire family, according to Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). The Turkish Cypriot police began by raiding...

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14 January 2011
France: Bill that would threaten online freedom continues its way through parliament

France: Bill that would threaten online freedom continues its way through parliament

Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has expressed concern that the French government and parliament seem deaf to the concerns being voiced by civil society about a proposed domestic security law known as LOPPSI 2 and the threat it poses to online freedom of expression. “Despite all the criticism from free speech groups and certain legislators and despite reports showing...

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14 January 2011
Chinese Propaganda Department issues orders for 2011

Chinese Propaganda Department issues orders for 2011

China’s Propaganda Department, which is under the direct orders of the country’s Communist Party, has marked the New Year with a series of directives to the media. Regarded as state secrets, they have been delivered by word of mouth to journalists at meetings where note-taking has been banned. However, Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has obtained details of the...

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14 January 2011

Mexico: Two grenade attacks on media in 48 hours should be seen as “serious warning”

The Mexican government should regard two grenade attacks this week on news media in northern Mexico – one against Televisa in Piedras Negras and one against a local newspaper in Monterrey – as a serious warning and should speed implementation of a federal-level convention on the protection of journalists that was signed in November, Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF)...

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14 January 2011
Climate of fear prevents journalists from working freely in Côte d’Ivoire

Climate of fear prevents journalists from working freely in Côte d’Ivoire

Acts of intimidation and violence against journalists continue in Côte d’Ivoire, as the political crisis resulting from the November 28 presidential election drags on with no sign of a resolution in sight, according to Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). “We deplore the climate of fear in Abidjan for journalists trying to cover developments,” RSF secretary-general Jean...

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