News

(RSF/IFEX) - Palestinian journalist Awad Rajoub, a reporter for the Arabic-language website of the satellite TV station Al Jazeera, was freed on 24 May 2006 after being held by the Israeli authorities for six months. He was arrested on 30 November 2005 at his home in Doura, 10 km outside the West Bank city of Hebron, and accused by the Israeli military of "threatening state security." The Al...

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has written to Polish justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro to alert him to serious threats being made against Polish journalists by Redwatch, an extreme right-wing group that advocates violence. Redwatch-Poland ( http://www.redwatch.info/sites/redwatch.htm ) has posted a list of 15 left-wing and far-left journalists and directly threatened them with reprisals for...

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has condemned the arrests of two bloggers, Mohammed Sharkawy and Karim El-Shaer, during a demonstration at the Press Syndicate in Cairo on 25 May 2006, and the behaviour of the police in using violence to disperse protestors, and attacking "Los Angeles Times" correspondent Hossam El-Hamalwy as he was trying to cover the event. "The eye-witness accounts we...

(IAPA/IFEX) - Miami (May 26, 2006) - The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) today voiced its concern over the possible introduction of legislation in the US Congress that would punish the disclosure of classified information generally. At the same time, it endorsed views expressed by two national newspaper organizations whose arguments were prepared for a legislative public hearing to take...

(FXI/IFEX) - The FXI is deeply disturbed about recent reports regarding the SABC's decision not to [broadcast] a documentary on South African President Thabo Mbeki scheduled for Wednesday of last week. Apparently the documentary takes a critical look at the President's governance style, including what many commentators have referred to as a growing centralisation of government. Several newspaper...

(CPJ/IFEX) - New York, May 26, 2006 - Police in the Gambia on Monday summoned contributors and sources for the U.S.-based Web site Freedom Newspaper ( http://www.freedomnewspaper.com). Local sources told the Committee to Protect Journalists today that at least one local journalist was detained in connection with the summonses, and that others may have been picked up by security forces. Calls by...

Experienced Asian and Pacific journalists can apply for a fellowship program focusing on population issues in the region. The program includes visits to Hawaii, India, Japan and Thailand. Application deadline: June 21. The Jefferson Fellowships, organized by the East-West Center in Honolulu, are open to both Asian and U.S. journalists. Print and broadcast journalists with at least five years of...

NEW YORK: For years it has been said that the newspaper industry is on a downturn. Publishers have always characterized it as a gentle, slow decline, a perception that allows them to take time to figure things out. But a new report from Merrill Lynch's Lauren Rich Fine -- a champion of newspapers -- reveals publishers better get on the stick, because the industry may be deteriorating faster than...

The Times announced today that it will start printing in America from next month for the first time in its history. The first United States edition of The Times will be published on Tuesday, June 6 and will be available by subscription and at more than 2,000 retail outlets across New York and New Jersey. Commenting on the launch of the US edition, Robert Thomson, Editor of The Times said: "This is...

A broad alliance between Yahoo Inc. and eBay Inc., unveiled Thursday, signals the growing fear of Google Inc. and the lengths to which onetime rivals will go to defend themselves against the fast-growing search engine juggernaut. The deal gives Yahoo and eBay extra ammunition -- namely, access to a vastly bigger audience -- that they hope will strengthen their positions in the highly competitive...