News

Reporters Without Borders today condemned police and judicial harassment of independent journalist Claudia Acuña, which began on 11 July after she revealed the existence of a Buenos Aires prostitution ring controlled by certain authorities by means of threats. The founder of the online news agency La Vaca and the affiliated MU newspaper, Acuña has already been fined 3,000 pesos (700 euros). “It is...

(Mizzima/IFEX) - The Burmese junta has imposed restrictions on media coverage of the National Convention on the drafting of the constitution, to be held on 18 July 2007. Burma has been without a constitution since 1988, when its 1974 charter was suspended following a coup led by a new junta regime. In invitation letters to local media and foreign news agencies in Rangoon, the convening committee...

Most of America’s teens and young adults do not follow the daily news closely, a new report has revealed. Younger Americans are relatively more attuned to soft news stories (such as the death of Anna Nicole Smith) than to hard news stories (such as the congressional vote on the troop surge in Iraq). In many cases, teens and young adults learned of soft news stories through another person rather...

(BIANET/IFEX) - After an article on pre-election opinions in Batman, a south-eastern province, was published in the "Gündem" newspaper on 12 July 2007, an Istanbul penal court has closed the newspaper for 15 days. Cause for the closure was an article published on 12 July (issue no. 132), entitled: "The Batman Message: Stand By the Guerrillas". The newspaper has been closed for periods of 30 and 15...

A Russian manager of German media group Bertelsmann has been found murdered at her country house, local prosecutors said on Monday. Bertelsmann said there is no connection between its business and the murder. The deputy manager of German publisher, Bertelsmann's Russia office was found dead in her country house outside of Moscow, Russian prosecutors said in a statement on Monday. "The body of 47...

Reporters Without Borders condemns the prosecution of the owner of the Turkish-Armenian newspaper Agos, Serkis Seropyan, his editor Arat Dink, and one his reporters, Aydin Engin, who are due to appear before a criminal court in Sisli, Istanbul, on 18 July. Seropyan and Dink are charged with “insulting Turkish identity” under article 301 of the criminal code. Engin is accused of insulting the court...

New Delhi: CNN-IBN has added yet another feather in its cap. The channel won four of the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism awards on Monday. While Nilanjana Bose won the award in the ‘Uncovering India Invisible’ category, Bahar Dutt won the ‘Excellence in Environmental Reporting’ award. CNN-IBN’s Special Investigation Team won the excellence in political reporting award. The channel's editor...

(AMARC/IFEX) - AMARC condemns the closure of various radio stations belonging to the Paraguayan Association of Community Communication (Asociación Paraguaya de Comunicación Comunitaria, COMUNICA), due to the strong pressure brought to bear upon the courts by commercial radio companies. On 10 July 2007, the radio station Chokokue FM, located in the city of Minga Guazú and run by the Paraguayan...

The Washington Post Co. today is launching LoudounExtra.com, an aggressive online push into hyperlocal journalism, combining traditional reporters and photographers with bloggers, videographers and extensive databases on schools, businesses and churches. If the project is successful, The Post Co. plans to build similar sites for the rest of Northern Virginia, Maryland and the District. The project...

(RSF/IFEX) - RSF is concerned about the health and safety of Cuba's imprisoned journalists, especially Normando Hernández González, the editor of the Colegio de Periodistas Independientes de Camagüey, an independent news agency, who is still waiting for the special medical release his wife requested for him a year ago because of his poor health. This concern is heightened by the news of the death...