News

The police in Mindoro Occidental province should immediately investigate the shooting murder of Philippine radio commentator Crispin Perez for possible links to his reporting, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has demanded. An unidentified attacker stabbed and fatally shot Perez on Tuesday in San Jose in the central Philippines, according to local and international news reports. The...

The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has laid a charge of "stolen property" after the Mail and Guardian Online posted on the web an episode of the current affairs programme "Special Assignment", a documentary report on political satire. The public broadcaster pulled the episode on the evening of May 26, 2009, citing "internal processes," after initially pulling it just before the...

Journalist Noorajan Bahir of independent radio Killid was released from a military base near the eastern town of Khost shortly before noon (local time) on June 4, two days after he was arrested by coalition forces and members of the Afghan military. The 28-year-old journalist, who is married, has worked for the independent radio station since 2004. "I was interrogated by American soldiers...

A Slovak government agency should immediately drop a civil complaint against the daily SME that was filed when the newspaper refused to print a response to a column under a controversial right-of-reply law, the International Press Institute (IP) has demanded. The complaint, filed by the Inspectorate for the Environment, is the first time a civil case has been pressed against a newspaper under the...

The Palestinian Centre for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) has been awarded by the Press Emblem Campaign (PEC) for its role in defending media freedoms in the occupied Palestinian territories. The Geneva-based Press Emblem Campaign (PEC) has announced on June 4 the selection of MADA and the Ambassador of Mexico to the United Nations in Geneva for the first prize. It has confirmed in its...

Awudu Mahama, a parliamentary reporter, and photographer Emmanuel Kubi, both of the Daily Guide, an Accra-based, privately-owned newspaper, were reportedly detained on 2 June 2009 at the headquarters of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) for allegedly loitering around the security zone, the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has reported. MFWA's correspondent reported that the two...

Moise Sidibe, a reporter with L'Indépendant, a privately-owned weekly newspaper, was picked up by the military, together with three of his family members, on May 27, the Media Foundation for West Africa (MWFA) has reported. They are in detention at the Alpha Yaya camp in Conakry, the capital of Guinea. MFWA's correspondent reported that the Red Berets forcibly took the reporter from his house...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has condemned condemns the detention of journalist Aylin Duruoglu, the editor of the daily Vatan’s website, Gazetevatan.com, for the past five weeks on a charge of collaborating with an outlawed armed organisation. Arrested on April 27, she is now being held in Istanbul’s Bakirköy prison. “Duruoglu is the victim of inexplicable judicial persecution,” RSF said. “If...

The opening of two government investigations into private television network Teleamazonas and threats of legal action by Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa against critical media outlets are an attempt by the government to stifle dissent, the Committee to Protect Journalists has said. During his weekly radio address on Saturday, President Correa said that he would resort to legal action to "finish...

Serbia's war crimes prosecutor has launched a probe into the role of journalists in stoking war crimes during 1991-1995 wars in the former Yugoslavia, Reuters reported quoting an official on Monday. The Special War Crime Prosecutor's office plans to focus on links between war-mongering reporting and 1991-92 atrocities in the Croatian and Bosnian towns of Vukovar and Zvornik. Some details from the...