News

Outrage at the murder of the Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink deepened yesterday after the media showed images of the teenage murder suspect posing with the Turkish flag and security officials after his arrest. The government launched an inquiry into the footage, which newspapers denounced as "hero treatment" of the 17-year-old suspect. Ogun Samast confessed to the January 19 killing of Dink...

London: Britain's first Readers' Editor, Ian Mayes, is set to hand over charge as the independent internal ombudsman of The Guardian, a post he has held for nearly a decade. Taking over from him in March will be Siobhain Butterworth, now the newspaper's legal director. Speaking about the significance of an ombudsman, the challenges associated with the office and the changing face of news, Mr...

NEWSPAPERS may change a bit to become more appealing to highbrows who seek more dialogue-driven communication instead of one-way education. According to a recent survey published by Edelman, a global public relations firm, newspapers received relatively low rates of trust among important people who have the power to make decisions in China. The survey was conducted by Edelman in partnership with...

The Independent needed to restructure its journalistic operations because they were designed 20 years ago, its editor-in-chief, Simon Kelner, said today. The paper and its sister title the Independent on Sunday are seeking 20 staff redundancies, and will award staff a 3.5% agreed pay rise as part of a restructuring process that could see the news operations of both papers merge. "Like every other...

(CPJ/IFEX) - New York, February 2, 2007 - The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned that more than a year after Iraqi journalists Marwan Ghazal and Reem Zaeed were abducted by gunmen in Baghdad they remain missing. "The plight of Marwan Ghazal and Reem Zaeed underscores the enormous dangers faced by all journalists covering this conflict, but especially those largely anonymous...

(RSF/IFEX) - One the eve of the first anniversary of local radio journalist Enrique Galeano's disappearance and probable murder on 4 February 2006 in Yby Yaú, in the southern department of Concepción, RSF has voiced outrage at the cynicism and inaction displayed by the authorities in this case. "President Nicanor Duarte Frutos personally received representatives from the Paraguayan Union of...

(FLIP/IFEX) - On 1 February 2002, Orlando Sierra, sub-director of "La Patria" newspaper, which is based in to the city of Manizales, was murdered. Five years later, the masterminds of the crime are still free. In September 2006, Ferney Tabasco González - director of the Liberal Party for the Caldas department and a former Congress representative - was summoned for questioning. Tapasco González has...

After its recent carnage in Upper Assam, the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) has now trained its guns on the media in the state. The militant outfit has warned three editors of local newspapers who criticised the group for asking a private TV channel to prove a news report within a month or to wind up its operations in Assam. Security personnel keep vigil near the bomb blast site at...

Though King Gyanendra, regarded as Nepal's worst suppressor of the media, was ousted from power last year, his role is now being taken over by Maoist guerrillas, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said in its annual report on media freedom worldwide. In its annual press freedom report published Thursday, RSF looked at the media situation last year in 98 countries, tabling the worst violations in...

Baghdad: There is good news in Iraq. For our journalists, this week's high points were the safe return of two colleagues seized by a death squad which shot two other hostages and the survival of the teenage nephew of another employee who was kidnapped and tortured in Baghdad. The lows, as I complete nearly two years running the agency's operations in Iraq, were sending condolences to the family of...