News

Press freedom organisations have called on the Burmese government to allow journalists to travel to the country to report on the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Wednesday expressed concern at reports that the country’s military government has refused to issue journalist visas to foreign reporters who have requested to enter the country to...

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has expressed concern at allegations that federal police agents assaulted three reporters working in Culiacán, the capital of the northern Mexican state of Sinaloa. At approximately 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, three reporters working for the newspaper El Debate went to report on a roadside checkpoint being mounted by federal police agents about one block from...

Rwanda’s independent media is facing increasing intimidation in the run-up to parliamentary elections scheduled for later this year. On Friday, three editors of private Kinyarwanda-language newspapers were suddenly expelled from the afternoon session of a World Press Freedom Day event at the Serena Hotel in the capital, Kigali, despite attending the media stakeholders’ forum since the morning as...

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called for sedition charges to be dropped against Malaysian blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin, who was jailed Tuesday. He is being held in connection with a story alleging that Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife were involved in the October 2006 murder of a Mongolian translator. Najib has denied the allegation. Raja Petra’s online article...

Turkey's president has approved an amendment enhancing free speech. President Abdullah Gul signed the amendment Wednesday, according to Anatolia news agency. It changes a law restricting free speech that had been used to prosecute many intellectuals, including Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk. Turkey's parliament approved the amendment to Article 301 of the penal code last week. The president had to...

Pune-based Sakal Media Group on Wednesday launched its much-hyped English newspaper Sakaal Times with an initial print run of 1,00,000 copies. A 24-page daily, with almost 80 per cent content outsourced, Sakaal Times is divided into three sections and is with a cover price of Re 1, the Business Standard reported. Headed by the Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar's nephew Abhijit Pawar, the...

An Egyptian television agency boss was charged by a Cairo court Monday over helping to broadcast images of protesters tearing down portraits of President Hosni Mubarak during deadly food riots in April, Agence France-Presse (AFP) has reported. Nader Gohar, who owns the Cairo News Company, was charged with not having a licence to provide satellite feed facilities to foreign channels following a...

South Africa's public broadcaster suspended its chief executive for insubordination barely hours after he meted out the same punishment to the head of news, its board announced Wednesday, according to news reports. Dali Mpofu, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) chief executive officer, has been suspended with immediate effect, the board said in a statement, according to Agence...

Publishing giant Bonnier AB was responsible for delivering a secret complaint to the EU Commission about state support to the press in Sweden, the Local has reported. The revelation was made clear by their reply to the government’s call for comments on a new legislative proposal on the matter. Some details: The analysis of operational support included in the comment is the same as that done in the...

The Kremlin is planning to give foreign news agencies greater access in covering the new president, according to the Moscow Times. Under the plan, reporters representing foreign news wires such as The Associated Press and Reuters will be allowed the same travel opportunities as their Russian counterparts, but they will have to be Russian citizens, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday. Some...