News

20 November 2008

Family of murdered Brazilian journalist harassed, possibly for participation in murder probe

The family of journalist Luiz Carlos Barbon Filho are being harassed a year and a half after he was murdered in Porto Ferreira, in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. There are concerns that this is linked to their participation in the investigation of the crime perpetrated on him. After Barbon was murdered on May 5, their house was attacked and his widow, Kátia Rosa Camargo, received several silent...

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20 November 2008

CJFE remembers Indo-Canadian journalist killed in 1998 over Kanishka bombing reports

The Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) has called for justice in the killing of Vancouver journalist Tara Singh Hayer, who was murdered 10 years ago. On November 18, 1998, the then 62-year-old publisher of the Indo-Canadian Times was shot to death at his Surrey, British Columbia home. His murder remains unsolved. CJFE's Executive Director Annie Game said in a statement, "The murder of...

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20 November 2008

Photographers, reporter injured while trying to report on Nicaraguan demonstrations

The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) has expressed concern at attacks on news media and journalists in Nicaragua, preventing them from covering the unrest following the November 9 elections. Reporting teams from the newspapers La Prensa, El Nuevo Diario and Canal 2 planning to cover pro- and anti-government demonstrations in León were reportedly stoned and prevented by supporters of the...

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20 November 2008

German Football Federation launches attack against investigative journalist

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has accused the German Football Federation of launching an unfair campaign of distortion and lies against a journalist who has criticised its President, Theo Zwanziger, one of the country's leading sports officials. Jens Weinreich, an investigative journalist with Berliner Zeitung, is a specialist in the area of international politics of sports who has...

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20 November 2008

Call for Taiwan police to stop pressuring journalists for protest information

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has urged Taiwan's National Police Agency (NPA) to stop asking media personnel for information about protesters at a recent public demonstration. According to the Association of Taiwan Journalists (ATJ), an IFJ affiliate, members of the Taiwan police have reportedly asked media workers to provide photographs of demonstrators who participated in the...

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20 November 2008

Mexican journalist who covered confrontation between drug traffickers detained, faces jail

A newspaper reporter has been imprisoned for two months after having been detained by military personnel when he was on his way to cover a confrontation between opposing gangs of suspected drug traffickers in Arcelia, Guerrero, southern Mexico. According to national and Guerrero-based media outlets, on September 6 a group of approximately 30 men from Mexico State arrived in Guerrero and entered...

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20 November 2008

Newspaper in UAE suspended and fined after reporting on horse-racing scandal

An Abu Dhabi court of appeal has suspended the Emarat Alyoum newspaper for defamation. The court also on November 19 fined the newspaper's editor-in-chief, Sami Al-Alraymi, 20,000 dirham (approx US$5,400) and the newspaper 500,000 dirham (approx US$136,000). The sentences are based on a lawsuit filed by the Warsan Stables, based in UAE, in January 2007 following a front-page article published in...

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20 November 2008

Radio station closed down in Ecuador after being accused of instigating people to protest

Radio Ritmo station in the western Ecuadorian province of Santa Elena has been closed down. The close, according to the Lima-based Instituto Prensa y Sociedad (IPYS), came after the Telecommunications Superintendence (Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones, SUPERTEL) acted on a resolution by the National Radio and Television Council (Consejo Nacional de Radiodifusión y Televisión, CONARTEL) which...

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20 November 2008
Recent wave of violence against the press in Mexico forcing journalists to flee to US

Recent wave of violence against the press in Mexico forcing journalists to flee to US

The recent spurt in attacks against journalists in Mexico has press freedom groups extremely worried. Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has called on US border authorities to make the necessary humanitarian provisions for journalists who are being forced to flee into exile. In particular, it requested the immediate release of Mexican journalist Emilio Gutiérrez Soto—held in the Texan...

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20 November 2008

Swaziland attorney-general says outspoken journalists can be arrested for “supporting terrorism"

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has condemned the Swaziland attorney-general’s threatening statement that journalists who criticise the government could be arrested under a new anti-terrorism law that has just been used to crack down on opposition groups. “In a country already under King Mswati’s tight control, the government has clearly decided to step up the pressure and leave no room for any...

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