News

An official in Swaziland has apologised for summarily dismissing a female reporter from Parliament nearly two weeks ago. It was the latest in a controversy sparked by allegations of gender discrimination against Mantoe Phakathi, an award-winning journalist with the private monthly, the Nation, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported on its blog. "As a former media practitioner...

Three defendants in the October 2006 murder of Novaya Gazeta journalist Anna Politkovskaya walked free out of the Moscow District Military Court Friday after a jury unanimously acquitted them of helping to organise the crime. The state prosecution said it will appeal the verdict, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported. Those acquitted are Sergei Khadzhikurbanov, a former police...

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has condemned amendments to the UK Counter Terrorism Act, which came into force in the UK on February 16. The amendments contain powers of arrest and imprisonment of anyone who takes pictures of police officers or other public servants which are "likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism." "This is a serious setback for...

The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) has expressed satisfaction at a court ruling in Argentina requiring the government to place official advertising in the newspaper Perfil. At the same time it criticised Guatemala's federal government for suspending state advertising in all print media in the Central American country. In Argentina last week, the government, which has been accused of...

The Buenos Aires Supreme Court has reinstated the life imprisonment sentence against former Pinamar police commissioner Alberto Gómez for his involvement in the January 25, 1997 murder of photographer José Luis Cabezas. This ruling revoked a previous decision by an appeals court that had reduced the original life sentence handed down in 2002 to 24 years in prison. The Foro de Periodismo Argentino...

Several journalists of the Reporter, an independent monthly magazine in Burkina Faso, as well as journalist Newton Ahmed Barry of privately-owned weekly newspaper l'Événement have received death threats via e-mail for allegedly criticising three top government officials. In a February 2009 edition of the Reporter, the magazine published a letter from an anonymous source that identified himself as...

China's decision to establish a list of reporters who break reporting rules and prevent them from continuing to report or edit news is a cause for concern, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has said. The decision to create a blacklist was reported in an article on the website of the official China Press and Publishing Journal. The journal's report, titled "Strengthen oversight and service...

A judge in the Philippines has lifted the warrant of arrest he himself had issued against the alleged killers of radio broadcaster Dennis Cuesta. Judge Isaac Alvero Moran, of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 36, of General Santos City, on February 12 revoked the February 3 warrant of arrest issued against Police Inspector Redempto "Boy" Acharon and several other suspects in the killing of...

The Tanzanian minister of information, sports and culture has ordered three newspapers to provide reasons why they published what he calls "defamatory" news reports. The newspapers in question are Taifa Letu, Sema Usikize and Taifa Tanzania. The minister on February 13 accused the three newspapers of writing defamatory reports against three prominent figures, namely Reginald Mengi, the executive...

Hearings in the murder case of Novaya Gazeta journalist Anna Politkovskaya continue at the Moscow District Military Court. On February 4, the judge announced yet another adjournment of the proceedings, this time because of the sudden loss in court of a DVD featuring video materials that the prosecutor wanted to present as evidence against the defendants, the Glasnost Defence Foundation (GDF)...