News

Access to funds, shift in ad spends drives growth. Behind the mushrooming of new and parallel Hindi newspaper brands lies the story of a buoyant advertising market in the Hindi-speaking states. Publishers who are launching second titles in the same market see merit, therefore, in segmenting their readers and offering more focused audiences. It is obvious that the understanding of markets and...

(RSF/IFEX) - Journalist Ching Cheong, seriously ill and serving a five-year sentence for "spying", spent his 57th birthday in prison on 22 December 2006, as Reporter Without Borders and the Hong Kong Journalists' Association (HKJA) presented a petition for his release. The petition for the release of Ching, who has been in custody since April 2005, attracted 3009 signatures. Before handing over...

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has condemned the three-month prison sentences passed by a court in eastern city of Jijel on 25 December 2006 on Omar Belhouchet, editor of the daily "El Watan", and Chawki Amari, one of his journalists, for "libelling" the local prefect in an article last June accusing him of corruption. They were also fined 1 million dinars (approx. 10,900 euros). "Algeria...

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has called on the Nigerian police to consider all possibilities in their investigation into the 22 December 2006 murder of Godwin Agbroko, the head of the editorial board of the privately-owned "This Day" newspaper, after his family expressed scepticism about a police claim that he was probably killed by robbers. "Nothing would be more harmful than a botched...

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has condemned the continuing detention of New TV reporter Firas Hatoum, cameraman Abdel-Azim Khayat and driver Mohammed Barbar, who were arrested on 19 December 2006 for entering the apartment of a key prosecution witness in the February 2005 murder of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. New TV is a satellite news station based in Beirut. "These three New TV...

(RSF/IFEX) - RSF condemns the detention of journalists Néstor Pasquín and Hugo Francischelli in Corral de Bustos, a town in Córdoba province in Argentina's north-central region. Both were detained for alleged instigation of violence, arson and minor injuries, for which they may face from 3 to 15 years' imprisonment. RSF is concerned because the journalists' detention appears to be a case of...

(ANEM/IFEX) - Belgrade, December 28, 2006 - The Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) strongly protests over the confiscation of broadcasting equipment belonging to Mladenovac-based RTV M Plus, an ANEM member station. While the Serbian Broadcast Agency (RRA) and Serbian Telecommunication Agency (RATEL) try to put into practice the decisions of the public competition for broadcast...

(CMFR/IFEX) - More than half of the 45 reporters, columnists, editors and publishers the First Gentleman, Jose Miguel Arroyo, has sued for libel are filing a civil class action suit against him today, December 28. Because the suit is being filed on behalf of the press, the journalists have been joined by other journalists and media and journalists' organizations, among them the Center for Media...

The publisher of the independent Moroccan weekly Le Journal Hebdomadaire and a former reporter have been ordered to pay the record damages awarded earlier this year in a controversial defamation suit. Publisher Aboubakr Jamaï said the award could jeopardize the magazine’s survival. Jamaï told CPJ that two court officials visited Le Journal’s Casablanca office on December 18 and gave him and former...

NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico - A bulletproof barrier covers the front entrance of El Manana, one of the largest newspapers in the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico. El Manana employees put up the barrier after three masked gunmen with grenades and assault rifles burst into the newspaper's reception area Feb. 6 and started shooting. As they fired, they shouted angrily against the paper's investigations into the...