News

New York, May 18, 2007—Haitian authorities must conduct a prompt and thorough investigation into the murder of radio journalist Alix Joseph, who was gunned down on Wednesday night in the northern city of Gonaïves, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. CPJ is investigating possible links between Joseph’s murder and his professional work. At 9:30 p.m., two unidentified men approached...

Reporters Without Borders today welcomed the release of journalist Houssein Ahmed Farah, a contributor to the opposition weekly Le Renouveau and member of the Movement for Democratic Renewal (MRD), but condemned another raid on Le Renouveau that followed his release. Farah was freed on 13 May after a judge ruled there was not enough evidence to establish that he wrote an article published in the...

To cut costs and try to adapt to a changing media marketplace, The Chronicle will trim 25 percent of its newsroom staff by the end of the summer. "This is one of the biggest one-time hits we've heard about anywhere in the country," said Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, in Washington. Eighty reporters, photographers, copy editors and others, as well as 20...

MADRID, Spain – Prosecutors on Friday appealed a judge's decision to charge three U.S. soldiers with homicide in the death of a Spanish journalist in Iraq, a court official said. Prosecutors at the National Court said the troops from the U.S. 3rd Infantry, based in Fort Stewart, Ga., committed no crime when their tank fired a shell at Baghdad's Palestine Hotel in 2003, killing Jose Couso, a...

(FMM/IFEX) - The Free Media Movement expresses serious concern at the continuous threats and harassment directed toward regional and provincial journalists by various power groups. Over the past few weeks, a number of provincial journalists had encountered difficulties in gathering and reporting news from the provinces. While covering a train accident, Ranjith Rajapakshe, a provincial...

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders voiced exasperation at the failure of the UN to resolve a dilemma under which Taiwanese journalists have again been refused accreditation to cover the World Health Assembly in Geneva simply because they are from Taiwan. For the fourth consecutive year, the UN and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have rejected accreditation requests from five Taiwanese...

(Globe International/IFEX) - Criminal charges were pressed against B. Tsognemekh, a reporter for the daily newspaper "Zuuni Medee", on 9 April 2007 and B. Ganbold, the newspaper's editor-in-chief, on 11 May 2007 pursuant to a complaint by Member of Parliament Ch. Ulaan. B. Tsognemekh has been charged under Criminal Code Article 110.1 (insult - imprisonment for a term of up to three months) and...

(SEAPA/IFEX) - A state chief minister has followed through on his threat of suing a news site and two opposition politicians after failing to obtain compensation and retraction from them over allegations of corruption on his part, naming an additional news organisation - owned by the dominant ruling political party - in his suits. On 15 May 2007, Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud filed...

The police fired warning shots at the scene of a double bombing Tuesday, enforcing an order banning news photographers and TV camera operators from filming the aftermath of deadly bombings, the Associated Press (AP) has reported. The Iraqi government said it decided last weekend to keep photographers and camera crews away from blast sites to prevent them from damaging forensic evidence. Press...

New York, May 17, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Wednesday’s grenade assault outside the offices of Cambio de Sonora, the second explosive attack in the last month against the Hermosillo-based daily. At 3:35 p.m., a grenade exploded in Cambio de Sonora’s parking lot in Hermosillo, about 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) northwest of Mexico City, according to press reports and CPJ...