News

A court in Xingjian, north-west China has sentenced Ablikim Abdiriyim, the son of renowned Uigar activist, Rebiya Kadeer, to nine years in prison for posting “secessionist” articles online, in what Reporters Without Borders called a “travesty of a trial”. China’s official Xinhua news agency reported that the 17 April verdict indicated that the young activist had sent the offending articles to the...

(WiPC/IFEX) - WiPC is seriously concerned about "The Zimbabwean" reporter Gift Phiri, due to stand trial on 25 April 2007 on charges of working as a journalist without official accreditation and "publishing false news". WiPC is concerned about the treatment Phiri received while in police detention earlier this month, particularly allegations of torture. It fears that the charges against Phiri are...

A military court has acquitted three journalists of publishing a leaked document that was intercepted by the Swiss intelligence service. The case, commonly known as the “CIA fax affair”, had been widely followed both in and outside Switzerland because of its implications for press freedom and the role of military justice. A military tribunal ruled that SonntagsBlick reporters Sandro Brotz, Beat...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A sharp drop in classified advertising sales brought on by free Internet listings and a cooling real estate market helped push U.S. newspaper publishers' financial results lower in the first quarter. Gannett Co. Inc., New York Times Co. and Journal Register Co. reported drops in revenue and profit on Thursday, while Tribune Co. and Media GeneralInc. both swung to losses from a...

Students at Virginia Tech have objected to the widespread media coverage given to the videos, photographs and writings made by Cho Seung Hui in the days before and during Monday's massacre at the university, in which he killed 32 people and then himself. Planet Blacksburg, a news website maintained by students, announced last night that it would no longer publish Cho's name, while others...

COLOMBO (AFP) - Sri Lanka's top defence official summoned Britain's envoy Thursday after he expressed solidarity with an editor facing death threats, diplomats said. Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse "invited" British high commissioner (ambassador) Dominick Chilcott to his tightly-guarded office at short notice Thursday, a high commission spokesman said. "They talked about the role of the...

A top defence official has issued a death threat against a Sri Lankan newspaper editor for reporting on military excesses and human rights abuses, journalists and a media rights group have said. Defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa being hugged by his elder brother Mahinda Rajapaksa, Sri Lankan President, after the former escaped an attack on his life last year. The defence secretary described...

The emergence of 24/7 television as a dominant news source and the explosive growth of the internet have led to major changes in the American public’s news habits. But this has had little impact on how much Americans know about national and international affairs. On average, today’s US citizens are about as able to name their leaders, and are about as aware of major news events, as was the public...

April 19, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- The trial began today of an independent Uzbek journalist accused of charges stemming from her trip across the border to report on 2-year-old violence in eastern Uzbekistan. Umida Niyazova faces allegations of illegally crossing the border and carrying contraband, and fostering unrest with the help of foreign funding. Niyazova appeared briefly in a Tashkent courtroom...

CHICAGO: The Chicago Tribune has launched a community journalism Web site encouraging readers in nine suburbs to post their own unedited articles, photos and blogs. "This started with the question of how can we make the paper more relevant to readers who continue to live further and further away from the center city," said Ted Biedron, president of the Tribune division that designed the site. The...