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The detention and interrogation last week of a Sri Lankan military intelligence officer and a soldier over the murder of a free lance journalist, Sampath Lakmal de Silva, raises further questions about the intrigues of the armed forces in provoking a return to war on the island. The 23-year-old De Silva was killed on July 1. According to the police, his assailants shot him four times—once in the...

IN EARLY 1990 I visited Eastern Europe for the first time, traveling in Hungary, Romania, and what was then Czechoslovakia just a few months after the revolutions that had freed them from Communist dictatorship. One indelible lesson from that trip was the remarkable role that had been played by the US government's broadcast services -- Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty -- in...

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders said it was baffled by an appeals court decision to uphold a six-month suspended prison sentence against Hrant Dink, managing editor of the weekly "Agos", for referring to the 1915 genocide against the Armenians. On 12 July 2006, Dink was sentenced on appeal in connection with a 13 February 2004 column in "Agos", for which he was found guilty of "insulting...

At a rally outside the New York Times's office last night, protesters called on the government to "prosecute" the newspaper for its recent publication of government security secrets. Led by a radio talk show host and Caucus for America president, Rabbi Aryeh Spero, almost 100 people gathered on 43rd Street to voice their outrage at the Times's decision to publish "national security secrets...

NEW DELHI: The Indian Broadcast Federation (IBF) and the Indian Media Group (IMG) today met the Information & Broadcast secretary S K Arora for an interaction on the Broadcast Bill 2006. IBF has opposed the cross-media holding restrictions and the so-called Draconian clauses in the bill. It said, the draft bill should be discussed with the industry, before having taken to the cabinet and...

As politicians go, Priya Ranjan Das Munshi is an affable man. His ego is not enormous; he doesn't bristle at criticism; he's the sort of chap you can share a joke or two with, and sometimes he will even laugh at himself. He's fired by football as much as he's driven by politics and his geniality is germane to his dexterity as Parliamentary Affairs Minister. So what is he doing defending what could...

MUMBAI: Media bodies are now waking up to condem on the draft of Broadcast Bill prepared by the information and broadcasting (I&B). After the Indian Broadcast Federation (IBF) has opposed the cross-media holding restrictions and the so-called Draconian clauses in the bill. The Film & Television Producers Guild of India Ltd has expressed its concerns about recent reports in the media that the...

As the newspaper industry grapples with its survival in the face of the steady attrition of readers and advertisers to the Internet, journalism schools have to be nimble, responding to the dynamic environment by offering courses featuring the latest technologies. Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism -- a pioneer in teaching new media alongside the old -- recently took the bold step of calling...

WASHINGTON – A few weeks ago in this space I asked you for your thoughts on the news media - what you don't like and don't understand about how reporters and news outlets go about their work. A few dozen responses later, it's safe to simply say there's a lot. But if, as reporters always defensively say, the media are not a monolith, that is even more true of media users. Some of you turn to and...

Once more, newspapers and the media are reporting the attacks perpetrated by armed militiamen in and around Darfur, Sudan, in which many were killed, as well as the deteriorating tragic conditions of more than 2.5 million refugees displaced by the conflict. The Sudanese government’s latest denials about the worsening situation and its accusations that Chad is supporting the rebels and creating...