News

An appeals court in Canada has overturned a lower court's 2004 contempt ruling against a journalist who would not reveal his source. In the ruling issued Monday in Toronto, the three-judge panel of the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms applies to journalist-informant confidentiality and, as a result, the contempt charge and fine against Hamilton Spectator...

Iran has closed down nine film and lifestyle magazines for publishing pictures and stories about the life of "corrupt" foreign film stars and promoting "superstitions." The Press Supervisory Board, a body controlled by hardliners, also sent warning notes to 13 other publications and magazines on "observing the provisions of the press law," the Culture Ministry said on its website, acording to an...

A Ukrainian court has convicted three former police officers of killing an investigative journalist nearly eight years ago. The verdict Saturday in Ukranian capital Kiev ended a high-profile trial—but one the family of the journalist, Heorhiy Gongadze, says has failed to bring the masterminds to justice, the Associated Press (AP) reported. Mykola Protasov was sentenced to 13 years in jail. Valeriy...

The police in Uganda should respect a court ruling that lifts a ban on two live radio programmes, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has said. The court decision Friday last allowed two live political shows on Life FM in Fort Portal to resume broadcasting, but the station has since received a warning from police about its future programming. On January 8, Regional Police Commander Martin...

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has condemned the murder of an Iraqi journalist by at least one unknown gunman in Baghdad on Thursday last. Qassim Abdul Hussein al-Iqabi, 36, of the local daily Al-Muwatin (The Citizen) was shot dead in Baghdad’s predominantly Shiite Karradah neighbourhood, according to local and international news reports. “We offer our deepest condolences to Qassim...

A journalist with a leading Azerbaijani newspaper who had to be hospitalised last week after being stabbed in the chest by a miscreant, has been released. acording to Arif Aliyev, chairman of the Editors Association Yeni Nasil, Four unidentified assailants encircled Agil Khalil, a reporter with the opposition daily Azadlig (Freedom), as he was leaving his office in the evening of March 13. One...

The Google vs newspapers issue has surfaced again. The World Association of Newspapers (WAN) has again called on Google to embrace a new publishing standard that allows website terms and conditions to be placed in machine-readable format so that publishers can have a say in how news aggregators and search engine companies use their content. Google European executive Ron Jonas was quoted as saying...

Journalists are being used to an unprecedented degree by the main political factions in the Palestinian Territories. Around 10 have been arrested since the start of the year, acording to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). The media is at the centre of the dispute between the Islamist party Hamas, controlling the Gaza Strip and President Mahmoud Abbas’ party, Fatah, in the West Bank. “Relations...

Reporters Without Borders deplores A Kuwait City criminal court has withdrawn the licences of two weekly newspapers, Al-Abraj and Al-Shaab. The court in separate cases on March 8 fined Al-Abraj editor Mansur Ahmad Muhareb Al-Hayni and Al-Shaab editor Hamed Turki Abu Yabes 9,000 dinars (21,000 euros) each. Hayni was convicted of besmirching the prime minister’s reputation while Yabes was convicted...

Niger’s official media regulator summarily suspended Wednesday the FM broadcasts of France-based Radio France Internationale (RFI) for three months, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Authorities accused RFI of discrediting the government in connection with a day-long series of programmes on Monday about the detention of RFI correspondent Moussa Kaka. In a...