News

The ruling by the British House of Lords in favour of freelance journalist Robin Ackroyd is being hailed as a major victory for investigative journalism. The ruling brought to an end one of the longest running legal battles over protection of journalists' sources in the United Kingdom. The House of Lords, Britain's highest legal authority, refused to grant the Mersey Care Hospital Trust leave to...

New York, August 1, 2007— The managing editor of a Tunisian online magazine is due to appear in court in Tunis on August 2 on charges of defamation that could lead to his imprisonment for up to three-and-a-half years, according to one of his lawyers. The charges against Tunisian rights activist Omar Mestiri stem from an article in French posted on the Web site Kalima on September 5, 2006, in which...

New York, August 1, 2007— The director of a private newspaper in Libreville, the capital of Gabon, was handed a suspended prison term and a fine today, but could not appear in court after he was hospitalized as the result of poor detention conditions, local journalists told CPJ. “We condemn this verdict and call on Gabonese President Omar Bongo to deliver on his 2004 pledge to eliminate prison...

Indian journalist Palagummi Sainath has been named as one of the seven winners of the 2007 Ramon Magsaysay Awards in recognition of his passionate reporting about the condition of India's rural poor. "In electing Palagummi Sainath to receive the 2007 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature, and Creative Communication Arts, the board of trustees recognises his passionate commitment as a...

Reporters Without Borders called today for the release of Farshad Gorbanpour, who was arrested yesterday along with fellow journalist Masoud Bastani on the orders of Tehran prosecutor Said Mortazavi. Bastani was freed after several hours but Gorbanpour was transferred to Evin prison. This brings the number of journalists and cyber-dissidents detained in Iran to 11. Also yesterday, a Tehran...

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp has clinched a deal to buy Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones & Co for $5 billion ending a century of family ownership. The companies said Wednesday that they signed a definitive agreement after the deal won sufficient support to pass from a deeply divided Bancroft family, which has controlled the storied newspaper publisher for generations, the Associated Press (AP...

Hamas militiamen Monday prevented distribution of three Fatah-affiliated newspapers in the Gaza Strip and briefly detained the local agents of the dailies. This is the first time that the newspapers published in the West Bank were prevented from being distributed in the Gaza Strip, according to reports. Palestinian journalists said thousands of copies from the three newspapers were seized by Hamas...

SANTA BARBARA, Calif.—A newspaper was ordered by a judge to turn over 144 unpublished crime-scene photographs to the lawyer for a teenager charged with murder in a gang fight. The Santa Barbara Daily Sound was given until Friday to provide the images to the county public defender's office, which is representing defendant Ricardo Juarez. The newspaper could be held in contempt of court if it misses...

A Mexican journalist who applied for U.S. asylum after being severely beaten in Hermosillo, Sonora, has decided to drop his petition. Claudio Tiznado recently told the Committee to Protect Journalists, which documented his case, that his decision didn't come easy. But given the diplomatic relations between the two countries and his inability to pay an attorney, Tiznado said he believed securing...

Condé Nast is ready to follow the September launch of the Indian edition of Vogue with other upmarket titles as the global fashion and luxury retail industry looks to cash in on the country’s growing affluence. The publisher is seeking or has obtained regulatory approval for magazines such as Glamour, GQ, Condé Nast Traveller, Vanity Fair and niche publications such as Wired, the technology...