News

A new report to Canada's Human Right Commission says the law should be changed so the federal agency no longer investigates complaints relating to hate speech. Richard Moon, a professor at the University of Windsor, Ontario, who authored the report, says the section of the Canadian Human Rights Act that prohibits communication that exposes people to hate should be repealed. The commission launched...

Joseph Tual, a journalist with the French state-owned TV station France 3, was recently questionedby a court in Lille on suspicion of "violating professional confidentiality" in a report about new developments in the investigation into the 1965 disappearance of Moroccan opposition politician Medhi Ben Barka in Paris. Tual was summoned to a Lille court on November 20 in response to a complaint...

A journalist working for UN-backed Radio Okapi in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was shot dead on Friday night. Didace Namujimbo is the second Radio Okapi reporter to be killed in the South Kivu provincial capital Bukavu in the past 18 months. "Once again a Radio Okapi journalist has been killed in Bukavu. Didace Namujimbo was killed by a shot to the head by unknown assailants on...

There has been a wave of attacks since the beginning of the month on Italian journalists working in Rome, in what seems to be a new campaign of intimidation by far-right groups. A TV crew from state-owned RAI-1’s news programme, TG1, was harassed on Sunday while doing a report in the Rome suburb of Il Trullo about racist attacks on immigrants by young Italians. The report followed the arrests of...

Afghan authorities have released two local employees of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in Kabul who were arrested a few hours after CBC reporter Mellissa Fung’s abduction on October 12. Fung was freed four weeks later, but the two brothers—Shokoor Feroz, a fixer, and Qaem Feroz, a driver—were detained by the National Directorate of Security (NDS) till Monday. Fung, a correspondent with the...

Tamil radio presenter and director of privately-owned radio Vettri FM, ARV Loshan, has been released by Sri Lanka's Terrorist Investigations Department after being held for eight days. His mother told Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) he was not hurt during his imprisonment. The police have for the time being held on to his mobile phones but they will supposedly be returned to him in the...

The Bratislava Regional Court has ordered Slovak broadcaster Radio Viva to pay over EUR 30,000 in libel damages to a Slovak judge, in connection with a 2004 report on fraud charges brought against him. The report—an item in a regular evening news broadcast—was based on comments made by then Interior Minister Vladimír Palko at an official press conference. The court found that a statement made by...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has welcomed the conclusion of the first working congress of the Federation of African Journalists (FAJ), held in Nairobi, Kenya last week end as a historic milestone in strengthening African Journalists. "IFJ affiliates in Africa have finally realised a long-held ambition to set up their own federation. This will have a tremendous impact on...

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has expressed its solidarity with staff and unions of Italian TV Channel La7 who are facing an unprecedented wave of lay-offs. EFJ, the European group of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), called on Italian lawmakers to condemn the cutbacks which will affect more than a quarter of the workforce. "We urge the Italian Parliament, which on...

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has expressed great concern over the extent of surveillance by the German Telekom including against journalists, which has taken alarming dimensions in Germany. “It is not acceptable that Telekom could misuse data retention to violate protection of sources and press freedom by engaging in surveillance of journalists, work council representatives and...