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Independent newspapers in the Arab world are demonstrating they can be commercially successful while maintaining their editorial independence. But to do so, they must negotiate a minefield. And for the vast majority of independent media in the Middle East, censorship and repression remain the norm. Those were the lessons from the 2nd Arab Free Press Forum, which drew independent journalists and...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today urged its member unions worldwide to express their solidarity with the journalists locked out by The Guardian management in Nigeria. The 800 journalists and other workers took strike action on November 6 after negotiation with The Guardian management over a pay rise and better working conditions broke down. The Guardian online and print...

The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has threatened to ban live television reports about Pakistan’s national elections and impose penalties on journalists if they do not comply. According to the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), an International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) affiliate, and reports by GEO TV and Dawn, PEMRA sent a letter of warning to the...

Delegates to the Arab Free Press Forum have condemned travel restrictions imposed by authorities in several Arab countries that prevented some speakers and participants from attending the event. The Forum, organised by the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) and the An-Nahar newspaper, drew independent journalists from across the Arab world to Beirut, Lebanon, to address the challenges and...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has expressed concern over reports from the Afghanistan Independent Journalists Association (AIJA) about a series of attacks against journalists. According to the IFJ-AIJA project office, unidentified gunmen in two cars chased a producer with Afghanistan Radio Television (ART), Ali Asghar Akbarzada, as he drove home from work on December 3. The...

Michel Hajji Georgiou, a senior political analyst at the French-language daily L’Orient-Le Jour in Lebanon, has been awarded the 2007 Gebran Tueni Award, the annual prize from the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) that honours an editor or publisher in the Arab region. Georgiou, who is a member of the newspaper’s editorial board and chief of its yearly political supplement, received the award...

An end to the legal persecution of journalists is an essential step towards providing human rights protection around the world, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has said. The IFJ, which is the world’s largest journalists’ group, said Monday that governments which use criminal defamation and other legal restrictions to silence critical reporting undermine the role of media in...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has called on Israeli authorities to abandon plans to prosecute journalists who visited Lebanon and Syria, countries with which Israel has no formal relations, in the course of their work. “At a time when key players in the region are talking peace it is grotesque that journalists should be facing prosecution for doing their job,” said Aidan White...

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), the European group of the IFJ, has called for better protection of sources in France after the latest case against a journalist who has refused to reveal a confidential source. “It is urgent that a protection of sources law is passed in France”, said EFJ Chair Arne König. “Unfortunately we are not surprised by this event, which happened the day before...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has called for the release of L’enquêteur editor Ibrahim Souley and owner Soumana Maïga who were arrested in Niger after the Minister of Economy and Finance filed a libel complaint against the newspaper. “The press freedom violations in Niger are catastrophic. Four of our colleagues have been arrested on charges stemming from their work,” said...