News

Local Taliban have threatened four journalists in the South Waziristan Agency of Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), warning them to give up their profession or face the consequences, Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) has reported. According to press reports, the threat was issued in pamphlets circulated by local Taliban in the town of Wana in South Waziristan. The pamphlet...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) and the Burma Media Association (BMA) have called for the immediate release from prison of celebrated journalist U Win Tin, whose health has deteriorated badly in the past few days. The 78-year-old is suffering from lung problems with severe asthmatic attacks which prevent him from sleeping and eating properly. A relative who visited him on June 28 found him thin...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has called on Mongolian authorities and political parties to protect journalists and guarantee media freedom after a series of incidents involving the press during violent demonstrations following the June 29 legislative elections. "We condemn the violence by demonstrators, who seriously injured three reporters," RSF said. "It is also very regrettable that the...

A reporter for Hong Kong's Apple Daily newspaper was denied entry into Beijing this week, the paper's chief editor said on Thursday, according to a Reuters report. With just over a month to go before the start of the Beijing Olympics, the newspaper, known for its pro-democracy stance and critical Chinese reportage, said one of its senior reporters had been turned away at Beijing on July 1 and had...

As the valuations of US newspaper publishers plunge and investor interest wanes, the ranks of stock analysts who rate their performance are thinning, says a Reuters report. Some details: "The fewer analysts you have ... the less information that's distributed, the less appearance there is in the minds of institutional investors," said longtime newspaper analyst John Morton, who runs his own...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has condemned the arrest of seven Zimbabwean and foreign journalists on June 27 during the run-off presidential election that was a foregone conclusion. "In its negotiations with Robert Mugabe, the African Union should remind the outgoing head of state that journalism is not a crime," Paris-based RSF said. British freelance photographer Richard Judson and Zimbabwean...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has condemned the abusive behaviour by Israeli security agents towards Palestinian journalists moving around the Territories or returning from visits abroad. Paris-based RSF says it has recorded five incidents of wrongful arrest over a recent 10-day period. One journalist is still being held, while another needed hospital treatment after being subjected to brutality...

Nicolas Sarkozy's proposal on the appointment of the president of the French public television broadcaster, France Télévisions, contravenes international standards regarding the independence of public service broadcasting, and should be opposed, ARTICLE 19 has said. President Sarkozy suggested on June 26 that the president of France Télévisions should be appointed by the executive branch upon the...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned a June 26 decision by a Nanjing court sentencing Chinese journalist Sun Lin to four years' imprisonment for "disturbing the social order" and "concealing a weapon". Sun, who writes for US-based website Boxun News under the pen name Jie Mu, and his wife He Fang were arrested on May 30, 2007, after reporting on civil rights violations...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has called on the authorities not to execute the warrant for the arrest of Mohammad Javad Haghshenas, the editor of Etemad Melli, a daily newspaper that is the mouthpiece of the pro-reform party of the same name. The warrant was prompted by an article critical of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that was previously posted on a blog. "Repressive measures against...