News

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has condemned the jailing of Rigobert Kakwala Kash, the editor of the privately-owned weekly "Le Moniteur", on 11 January 2007 in Kinshasa, and the 11-month prison sentence he has received as a result of a libel suit by the governor of the western province of Bas-Congo. He is the first journalist to be imprisoned since Joseph Kabila's election as president...

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has hailed the release of academic and cyber-dissident Ali Sayed al-Shihabi on 9 January 2007 after five months in detention. Arrested on 10 August 2006 for articles posted on a far-left website, he was freed under a presidential amnesty marking the Muslim Eid celebrations. "We hope this pardon will open the way for more releases, because we have not...

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has condemned the interim government head's decision to impose general censorship on the news media following an 11 January 2007 verbal order to radio and TV stations to stop broadcasting news programmes. Journalists have also been prevented from circulating freely in Dhaka. "The desire to extricate Bangladesh from the current political crisis in no way...

(RSF/IFEX) - There has been a wave of violations of online free expression since the start of the year, says Reporters Without Borders. A website covering corruption cases was shut down on 8 January 2007, the Sichuan authorities are continuing to enforce an Internet ban on Tibetan poet Woeser and the wife of Yang Maodong (Guo Feixiong), one of the 50 cyber-dissidents jailed in China, said on 12...

(CPJ/IPYS/IFEX) - Caracas, Venezuela, January 12, 2007 - A joint delegation of the Committee to Protect Journalists and Instituto Prensa y Sociedad (IPYS) said today it is alarmed about the lack of transparency in President Hugo Chávez Frias' decision not to renew the broadcast concession of the privately owned television station RCTV. This week, as Chávez was inaugurated for his third term, the...

(CPJ/IFEX) - New York, January 12, 2007 - The Committee to Protect Journalists deplores a Baku court's decision to extend by two months the pretrial detention of two journalists accused of insulting the Prophet Muhammad. Editor-in-Chief Samir Sadagatoglu and reporter Rafiq Tagi of the independent newspaper Senet were arrested on November 15, after publishing an article that alleged Islam's...

A joint delegation of the Committee to Protect Journalists and Instituto Prensa y Sociedad (IPYS) said today it is alarmed about the lack of transparency in President Hugo Chávez Frias’ decision not to renew the broadcast concession of the privately owned television station RCTV. This week, as Chávez was inaugurated for his third term, the delegation examined the highly polarized press conditions...

New Delhi: In what could be a good news for Media organisations across the country, the South Asia Free Media Association (SAFMA), the SAARC-recognised body of journalists, on Thursday announced the formation of a Press Commission for India. The Commission will be charged with the task of protecting free flow of information and promoting cooperation in the region in an atmosphere of tolerance and...

NEW YORK, Jan 11 (Reuters) - The New York Times Co. (NYT.N: Quote, Profile , Research) said on Thursday it aims to cut about 125 jobs at its New England Media Group, including 19 editorial staff at the Boston Globe, through voluntary buyouts and outsourcing. The Globe's publisher Steve Ainsley said in a letter to employees that the buyouts would be offered in the first quarter to employees with at...

(CPJ/IFEX) - New York, January 11, 2007 - The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by orders from the Bangladeshi Information Ministry that private broadcast outlets suspend news programs and print outlets halt critical news coverage during a state of emergency announced this evening. "It's essential that at this very sensitive moment Bangladeshi citizens have unfettered access to...