News

19 December 2010
Transnistrian court sentences journalist to 15 years in prison for “spying”

Transnistrian court sentences journalist to 15 years in prison for “spying”

A 15-year jail sentence has been slapped by a court in Tiraspol, the capital of the breakaway region of Transnistria, on journalist Ernest Vardanean on charges of high treason and spying for Moldova, Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. The court specified that Vardanean should be subjected to a “severe regime” while serving his sentence, issued under...

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19 December 2010

Radio station director in Afghanistan completes third month of being held for no good reason

Radio Kapisa director Hojatullah Mujadadi is being subjected to prolonged detention by the Afghan intelligence agency known as the National Directorate of Security (NDS). Saturday, Mujadadi completed his third month of being held at NDS headquarters in Kabul, where he has not been allowed to see a lawyer, according to Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). The NDS and...

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17 December 2010
Republican assertions of 'government takeover' of US health care is the Lie of the Year

Republican assertions of 'government takeover' of US health care is the Lie of the Year

PolitiFact editors and reporters have chosen "government takeover of health care" as the 2010 Lie of the Year. Uttered by dozens of politicians and pundits in the US, it played an important role in shaping public opinion about the health care plan and was a significant factor in the Democrats' shellacking in the November elections. Readers of PolitiFact, the St Petersburg Times' independent...

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17 December 2010

Indonesian journalist found dead, foul play suspected

Alfrets Mirulewan, chief editor of Pelangi Weekly in Maluku, was found dead with bruises on a large part of his body on Thursday evening, the Jakarta Globe reported. “The body was discovered by locals on the beach of Kisar Island. There were bruises and wounds on his body,” Insany Syahbarwaty, coordinator of the Maluku Media Center, was quoted as saying by news portal Detik.com. The details: [...

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17 December 2010
Philippines Press club gives Aquino grade of 80% in running after journalists' killers

Philippines Press club gives Aquino grade of 80% in running after journalists' killers

The National Press Club (NPC) of the Philippines has given President Benigno Simeon Aquino III a grade of 80 per cent in running after the killers of journalists. The rating was cited in NPC President Jerry Yap's yearend press report released on Friday. The NPC said there are yardsticks to determine how safe it is to practice journalism in a certain area such as: how many journalists were killed...

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17 December 2010
Kenyan journalist shocked to be ICC suspect

Kenyan journalist shocked to be ICC suspect

A Kenyan journalist named by the International Criminal Court as a key suspect in deadly post-poll unrest said Thursday he was shocked by the move weeks after interviewing and taking pictures of the court's prosecutor, Agence France-Presse (AFP) has reported. Joshua arap Sang, who met Luis Moreno-Ocampo during his latest visit to Kenya earlier this month, is the only one among the six Kenyans...

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17 December 2010
The Guardian launches data journalism and visualisation gateway

The Guardian launches data journalism and visualisation gateway

The Guardian has launched a new gateway to its journalism and visualisations. The announcement on its website said, "Data journalism has become an increasingly big part of our work here at the Guardian - from Wikileaks to government spending, it's our job to make the key data accessible and easy to understand." The site http://www.guardian.cok.uk/data/ includes: The key data of the day - broken...

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17 December 2010

Rwandan advisor must retract accusation against editor

A senior Rwandan presidential adviser should immediately retract a grave and unsubstantiated public accusation against a journalist, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has demanded. Brig Gen Richard Rutatina, a presidential security advisor, publicly accused Nelson Gatsimbazi, managing editor of the Kinyarwanda bimonthly Umusingi, of working with "enemies of the state." He made the...

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17 December 2010

Tajik journalist arrested on defamation, insult charges

Makhmadyusuf Ismoilov, a reporter with the Dushanbe-based independent weekly Nuri Zindagi has been imprison in northern Tajikistan, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Ismoilov was arrested in Sogd region on November 23, but the regional press first reported on the case on Monday. Ismoilov is currently being held in a pretrial facility in the city of Khujand, according to the...

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17 December 2010

PFF calls on government officials to reinstate senior news editor, let media do its work

Government officials responsible for the sudden suspension of senior news editor Dorah Masseung from her management position at the Papua New Guinea National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) must let the national media do its work without fear or political pressure, according to the Pacific Freedom Forum (PFF). Masseung, the executive news director for NBC, was "relieved" of her duties on December...

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