News

While Ivory Coast is not on the list of worst performers in press freedom anymore, journalists and press regulators agree the sector is still struggling in the divided country. They say improving the state of journalists can mirror the peace process to reunite what was once West Africa's most prosperous country. VOA's Nico Colombant reports from our regional bureau in Dakar. The head of the...

Reporters Without Borders voiced shock today at the severity of an attack on journalist Dare Folorunso of state-owned Ondo State Radiovision Corporation (OSRC), who was beaten unconscious by several policemen, including a deputy commissioner, at a May Day rally on 1 May in Akure, in the southwestern state of Ondo. He is now in a coma. “The election campaign has created a very difficult climate for...

New York, May 3, 2007—Jose Miguel Arroyo, husband of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, has withdrawn 46 criminal libel suits he had filed against 11 journalists. The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomed today’s news but said the suits should never have been brought. Withdrawal of the cases—which came because Arroyo was “grateful for surviving a delicate open-heart surgery with a...

New York, May 3, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists mourns the death of freelance photographer Mehboob Khan, who was killed in an April 28 suicide bomb attack aimed at Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao. The minister escaped with minor injuries, but 28 people died in the attack at a political rally in the small town of Charsadda in Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP). Three other...

KUWAIT: Today the world celebrates the greatest freedoms of all -- the freedom of expression and the freedom of the press. This year, World Press Freedom Day is dedicated to the theme "Media and Good Governance." In a survey conducted on the occasion of the day, this reporter talked to citizens and expats on their assessment of Kuwait's press freedoms. For Michelle, 36, from the Philippines...

(CPJ/IFEX) - New York, May 3, 2007 - The Committee to Protect Journalists joined with colleagues at a rally at U.N. headquarters today to call for the release of BBC correspondent Alan Johnston, abducted in Gaza more than seven weeks ago. Journalists in London, China, and Indonesia also rallied today, World Press Freedom Day, in support of Johnston's release. "No purpose is served by keeping Alan...

GAZA, May 3 (Reuters) - Palestinian supporters of the ruling Hamas movement launched their first newspaper on Thursday, opening a new front in the battle for political dominance with the rival Fatah faction. "Palestine" is the pro-Islamist answer to the three largest Palestinian newspapers which have longstanding ties to Fatah, the secular faction of President Mahmoud Abbas. It is also the first...

The world comemmorates World Press Freedom Day Thursday and various media watchdogs say Zimbabwe remains one of the world's most difficult places to work for independent journalists. As Tendai Maphosa reports for VOA from London attacks on journalists continued with a new low reached earlier this year. Zimbabwe has maintained its place on international media watchdogs' lists of the worst places to...

Yesterday, the eve of World Press Freedom Day, Russia appeared in a bad light in three Western ratings of press freedom. The American human rights organization Freedom House gave Russia its lowest ever press freedom rating of 164 out of 195. The U.S. State Department placed Russia on its list of countries where freedom of the press is deteriorating, and the New York-based Committee to Protect...

NEW YORK - One-third of Americans say they have a negative view of Katie Couric, her personal popularity lagging behind rivals Charles Gibson and Brian Williams just as her evening news program trails in the ratings. The Gallup Poll survey released Thursday found that 51 percent of Americans said they had a positive view of Couric, who jumped from NBC's "Today" show to CBS last fall. The poll...