News

The Chicago Tribune is said to be making changes to its dramatic new redesign just three months after it was rolled out, the Associated Press (AP) has reported. The Tribune announced on January 8 that it would bring that section back while making indexes clearer, toning down bold fonts, and adding new local sections. The newspaper in late September debuted a new format that it said was bolder and...

Police in the southern Tajik city of Kulob have detained two people for attacking Abdumumin Sherkhonov, the editor in chief of the newspaper "Pazhvok" and an RFE/RL freelancer. Both suspects have confessed to their participation in the attack. A third man sought for involvement in the crime has not yet been arrested. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported: [ Link] Sherkhonov says he was...

The editors of two leading Vietnamese newspapers were fired on January 2, the latest in a series of measures by the Vietnamese government to stifle criticism and dissent, Human Rights Watch has reported. In December, the government announced strict new regulations banning internet blogs that disseminate politically sensitive content deemed subversive by the government. During the last three months...

Thai authorities have blocked 2,300 websites for allegedly insulting the country's monarchy, with 400 more awaiting a court order to restrict them, the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) has reported. The Economic Times Online quoted Information and Communication (ICT) Minister Ranongruk Suwanchawee as saying on January 6 that "The blocking of websites that disseminate content and pictures...

Mfomfo Nkambule, a columnist with the Times of Swaziland newspaper was censored by state police who interrogated him on January 5 over his weekly articles which are often critical of the king and his leadership, the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) has reported. Nkambule, an ex-cabinet minister and member of parliament but now chairperson of a political party known as Inhlava, was...

Press freedom groups have expressed shock at the December 30, 2008 announcement that Cláudio Orlando "O Ratinho" do Nascimento, like Claudino "Xuxa" dos Santos Coelho before him, has been granted a partial release for "good behaviour." The two men, known members of a Rio de Janeiro gang, were sentenced in 2005 to 23 years and six months in prison for the June 2002 murder of TV Globo reporter Tim...

Gunmen on a motorcycle Thursday shot and killed the editor of a Sri Lankan newspaper critical of the government, the second violent attack on media this week. Sunday Leader Chief Editor Lasantha Wickramatunga was in a car on his way to work when he was attacked, Wickramatunga's brother Lal told Reuters. "The gunman smashed the window of the vehicle and shot at him," Lal Wickramatunga said. Doctors...

A group of unidentified individuals bought off copies of the Perú 21 newspaper from newsstands in the district of Chosica, east of Lima, on January 3 ostensibly to stop the public from learning about allegations of fuel trafficking involving authorities and 27 police officers in the district, the Lima-based Instituto Prensa y Sociedad (IPYS) has reported. According to journalist Elizabeth Salinas...

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) has condemned officials from Al-Ahram Press for their refusal to print the latest edition of the opposition weekly Sout al-Ummah, until its editor, Abdel Halim Kandil, had removed his article criticising Egypt President Hosni Mubarak and the country's stance on the crisis in Gaza. Sout al-Ummmah was finally published on January 5 after the...

Every lawsuit that has been brought by members of the Universal Church against journalist Elvira Lobato, who works for the Folha de São Paulo newspaper, has thus far been won by the journalist, the ssociação Brasileira de Jornalismo Investigativo (ABRAJI) has reported. Winner of the 2008 Esso Journalism Award, the most important prize given to Brazilian news people, the reporter was targeted with...