News

A month after his 15-year association with The Asian Age ended, eminent journalist and author M.J. Akbar's new political magazine Covert hit the news stands on Wednesday, the Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) has reported. "The ideology of the magazine is the ideology of my own profession - journalism. There should be space for every viewpoint as long as there is logic and rationale and it is not a...

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has condemned the actions of Burma’s military government in restricting press access to disaster areas and censoring local news coverage of the massive devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis. According to CPJ sources, Prime Minister Thein Sein announced at a meeting with businessmen Tuesday that foreigners—including journalists—would not be allowed into the...

Qi Chonghuai, a journalist in China’s Shandong province who had written critically about local officials, was sentenced Tuesday to four years in prison for fraud and extortion in a trial that lasted 12 hours, according to his wife and lawyers. Access to the trial was limited, and reporters were not allowed to attend. It began at 9 am and continued until 9:30 pm, when the sentence was announced...

Following the repeated threats issued on the Editor and staff of the Naharolgi Thoudang by some elements in connection with a news stories at Manipur Bhawan Kolkata, journalists of the State under the aegis of the All Manipur Working Journalists' Union (AMWJU) today highlighted the problem in person to the Chief Minister, the Sangai Express has reported. In a statement, AMWJU said that after the...

The Shiv Sena on Sunday started an agitation against establishments using the word “Bombay” and targeted a reputed school and a newspaper supplement. Apparently moved by party MP and Executive Editor of the Sena’s mouthpiece Saamana Sanjay Raut’s views in his weekly column, the activists allegedly burnt some copies of Bombay Times, a supplement of The Times of India, the Press Trust of...

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has condemned the murder of Jorge Mérida Pérez, a correspondent in Quetzatenango province for the national Guatemalan daily Prensa Libre. Mérida was shot to death in his home on Saturday afternoon. CPJ called on the Guatemalan authorities to begin an immediate, thorough investigation into this brutal killing. While a motive has yet to be confirmed, early...

Hackers attacked the website of Zimbabwe's state-owned Herald newspaper and shut it down for three days, the newspaper said on Monday, according to a Reuters report. The Herald is widely seen as the official mouthpiece of President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party and has been critical of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) which won the country's disputed March 29 elections...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has called for the definitive release of journalist and human rights activist Emadoldin Baghi who suffered a heart attack in his cell at Tehran’s Evin prison, after being returned there on April 15 following a temporary release for health reasons. “We urge the Iranian authorities to act now to avoid putting the journalist’s life at risk,” Paris-based RSF said. “He...

The State Security Specialized Court refused on Sunday a request to release journalist Mohammad al-Maqaleh who is charged of mocking a judge during a colleague's trial, according to the NewsYemen website. At hearing session, the court said al-Maqaleh was charged with committing criminal acts when he insulted judge in the court room on April 8 and ridiculed the court's procedures against journalist...

Spanish journalist Ricardo Ortega was shot dead by foreign soldiers in Haiti in 2004, according to a court order from the Caribbean country, the contents of which were made public by Ortega's family on Friday, Reuters has reported. Ortega died while covering a demonstration pitting supporters and detractors of ousted president Jean-Bertrand Aristide in March. Originally Spanish media reported that...