News

The story of some violent historic earthquakes may need to be revisited, says a new study. Seismologists rely on written accounts, mostly local newspaper articles, to judge how strongly the ground shook during earthquakes that predate the use of current instrumentation. Those news accounts have proven to be misleading, say scientists, and reliance upon them must be tempered when evaluating the...

When Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf moved to contain the judicial crisis engulfing his regime, the country's mainstream media were among the first casualties. But no threat was directed at Pakistan's radical jihadi press, which has been just as critical of the president's decision to suspend Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry three weeks ago. Critics say the discrepancy underscores how...

A female journalist was dragged, kicked and punched mercilessly by security guards recently when she attempted to interview a group of hospitalised women at the Guwahati Medical College Hospital, according to delayed reports. Afrida Hussain of Northeast Television (NeTV), who had a hand broken in the assault on March 31, is now undergoing treatment at the International Hospital, Guwahati. The...

Foreign militants killed the brother, father, uncle, and cousin of Urdu-language Inkishaf reporter Din Mohammed at his home in South Waziristan in apparent retribution for his work, colleagues told the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Three other family members were also abducted. Pakistani tribesmen stand guard at a checkpoint in Wana, the main town of the South Wziristan region bordering...

The US blogger whose record 226 days in federal prison stirred debate about who qualified as a journalist and what legal protections journalists should receive, was freed Tuesday after releasing video footage sought by prosecutors about an anarchist protest. Freelance videographer Joshua Wolf speaks to the members of the media after being released from the Federal Correctional Institution in...

Harare/Johannesburg - A British reporter for Time magazine who was arrested in southern Zimbabwe last week for working without a press card has been convicted and fined, reports said Tuesday. Alexander Perry, 37, was arrested Friday near the mining town of West Nicholson while interviewing a small-scale miner on the effects of the government's controversial crackdown on the sector, reports the...

On the seventh anniversary of radio Haïti Inter owner and manager Jean Dominique’s murder on 3 April 2000 in Port-au-Prince, Reporters Without Borders notes with regret that the investigation that was relaunched two years ago has still not yielded any results and impunity continues to prevail in this case. “It will clearly take time to put an end to violent crime and the rule of the gangs, one of...

JERUSALEM, April 3, 2007 (WAFA) - Palestinians view Al-Jazeera TV, Al-Quds Newspaper and as the most reliable sources of news, A public opinion poll said. A public opinion poll conducted by the Jerusalem Media and Communications Center (JMCC) during the period between 19 and 21 March 2007 asked the Palestinian public about the TV channel, newspaper and radio station they trust as the most reliable...

Doha • An interesting survey conducted recently among journalists in the Middle East have shown their varying attitudes towards the daily press releases they are getting from public relations agencies in the region. The online poll, conducted jointly by Insight and MediaSource, canvassed the opinions of 139 journalists working for Arabic and English-language newspapers and magazines in the UAE...

A new media watchdog christened South Asian Media Commission, will monitor journalists' safety and violation of media rights and publish periodical reports. It is envisaged to respond with speed to such violations to press for remedial action. The new mechanism came into place even as Union Information Broadcasting Minister, Priyaranjan Dasmunshi called for monitoring the pressure exerted by the...