News

An Afghanistan university student and journalist for daily newspaper Janan-e-Naw, Sayed Parvez Kambakhsh, faces the death penalty at his upcoming trial, according to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). Parvez was detained on October 27, 2007, in the northern Afghan city of Mazhar-e-Sharif, accused of “insolence to the Islam” after he allegedly downloaded an article from a Farsi...

The World Association of Newspapers and World Editors Forum have asked China to honour its international obligations and release all jailed journalists before the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. In a letter to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao asking for the immediate release of a journalist who has spent 12 years in prison, the Paris-based WAN and WEF referred to China’s promise to "follow...

Leaders of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today welcomed the “historic reform” within Tunisian journalism following the creation of a new union of journalists and the lifting of a two-year ban on the IFJ’s website, only weeks after the federation accused the government of being “stuck in a political groove of media manipulation.” Tunisia’s journalists created a national trade...

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) today accused the Slovenian government of trying to spin its way out of trouble within the European Union over controversial claims that it is interfering in press freedom at home. EFJ said in a statement that political meddling with media in Slovenia cast a shadow over the country’s presidency of the European Union. It has criticised the government...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today called on Tanzanian authorities to launch a thorough investigation into the brutal assault of two veteran journalists while they were working in their newsroom. Saed Kubenea, owner and managing editor of the Kiswahili weekly Mwana Halisi, and Ndimara Tegambwage, a consultant editor with the paper, were assaulted by multiple attackers on...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has called on Sri Lanka’s government and its President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, to take urgent action to protect the safety of journalists and uphold the rights of the media to report on issues of public interest. A serious deterioration in the press freedom environment and safety of journalists in Sri Lanka since January 2, when the government formally...

Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf has agreed to open the World Newspaper Congress, World Editors Forum and Info Services Expo 2008, the global summit meetings of the world’s press, to be held in Göteborg, Sweden, next June. The events, organised by the World Association of Newspapers, are expected to draw more than 1,500 newspaper publishers, managing directors, CEO, chief editors and other senior...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has again called on the United States (US) to free Al-Jazeera cameraman Sami al-Haj who has been held at the Guantanamo Bay detention centre for five-and-a-half years. “Sami al-Haj has never been charged with a crime and the US Government has failed to produce any credible evidence against him,” said IFJ General Secretary Aidan White. “He should be...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today called for an investigation into the death of private radio station director Abdou Mahaman, who was killed after his vehicle ran over a landmine Tuesday night in Niger’s capital Niamey. “We are shocked by this brutal killing and we are sending out condolences to his wife, his children and his colleagues,” said Gabriel Baglo, Director of the...

The World Association of Newspapers (WAN) has launched a new website to support and promote the use of cross-media audience measurements that will allow publishers to provide a more complete picture of their reach than print circulation alone. The website for the Media Measurement Initiative Task Force contains the latest research and insights regarding the rapidly changing landscape of online...