News

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has condemned the Guyanese government's withdrawal of virtually all state advertising from the "Stabroek News", the country's leading privately-owned daily, and its refusal to respond to the initiatives taken by the newspaper in response to this discriminatory measure. "Governments must not allocate advertising to some news media as a reward, and withdraw it...

(IFJ/IFEX) - The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today released its annual report on journalists and media staff killed last year, confirming that the death toll of at least 155 killed and 22 accidental deaths has marked out 2006 as the bloodiest year on record for journalism worldwide. The IFJ report - Journalism Put to the Sword in 2006 - provides a detailed account of the deaths...

(RSF/IFEX) - Just weeks after the UN Security Council's adoption of Resolution 1738 on the protection of journalists in armed conflicts, a new string of killings of journalists in Iraq has underlined the urgent need for the Iraqi government to take determined measures to protect its country's media personnel, Reporters Without Borders said on 18 January 2007. A total of 146 journalists and media...

(MFWA/IFEX) - Chief Ebrima B. Manneh, a journalist working with the "Daily Observer", a pro- government daily newspaper, was located on 12 January 2007 for the first time since his arrest by the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), more than six months ago. Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) sources say he is being held in a police cell in Fatoto, the last major border town in the east of the...

(IFJ/IFEX) - The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has called for a full investigation into death threats made against Free Media Movement (FMM) convener Sunanda Deshapriya, leading journalist Bandula Padmakumara, The Sunday Leader editor Lasantha Wikramatunga, and Ravaya editor Victor Ivan, as well as politicians, including the Opposition Leader, and prominent business figures...

(IFJ/IFEX) - The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is backing the Romanian media's protests over "disturbing and inappropriate" comments made by Romanian Justice Minister Monica Macovei, which they say violate the rights of one of the country's leading journalists by publicly questioning his newspaper's right to criticise her. Following comments by Justice Minister Macovei, veteran...

(FNJ/IFEX) - Soldiers of the Maoist's People's Liberation Army (PLA) barred journalists from entering their Fourth Division headquarters at Jhyaldanda in Nawalparasi district while a seven-member United Nation Arms Management Team was inspecting the site on 16 January 2007. Camp commander Yam Bahadur Adhikari said, "We will provide information to the journalists but not allow them to enter the...

(MISA/IFEX) - The Media and Information Commission (MIC) has summoned journalist Nunurai Jena to appear before it for a hearing over an expired accreditation card allegedly issued to him "in error" by the state-controlled media body. Ironically, the MIC's notice of intention to cancel the expired accreditation card comes at a time when Jena is suing the Commission for defamation, arising from...

(IFJ/IFEX) - The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has voiced its outrage at the brutal murder of a Chinese journalist who was beaten to death on January 10, in the Huiyuan county of the Shanxi province, and has called for a full investigation into the case. According to online news reports, Lan Chengzhang of Beijing's China Trade News was investigating a story on China's coal mining...

COPENHAGEN, Denmark - An editor of a Danish newspaper that published the controversial prophet Muhammad cartoons said Wednesday he expects the debate about self-censorship in the media and artists' fear of offending Islam to continue for years. The Jyllands-Posten daily in 2005 published 12 drawings - one of them showing Muhammad wearing a turban shaped as a bomb with a burning fuse. Another...