News

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on leaders attending the 11 - 13 May 2006 European Union - Latin America and Caribbean summit in Vienna to do more for press freedom, which has taken a beating in the western hemisphere in 2005 and the early months of 2006. "Seven journalists were murdered in connection with their work in the Americas in 2005 and five more have been killed since the start of...

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders condemned an assault on cameraman Omid Yakmanish, of Tolo TV, the 2005 laureate of its press freedom award, who was beaten up by two parliamentarians while covering a debate in parliament. He had gone to parliament on 7 May 2006 for a controversial debate on media coverage of the day of commemoration of the Mujahideen victory over Russia. One deputy, Malalai...

12 May 2006 – With seven more media workers killed in Iraq in recent days, the head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) yet again stressed the indispensable role a free press plays in establishing a democratic country and called for full security for journalists. "Everything possible must be done to improve their security and ensure that media...

NEW YORK -- The United Nations is proposing a voluntary code of ethics for journalists that would ban interviews with terrorists and discourage press and broadcast reports that generate sympathy for terrorist causes. The code would be part of a U.N. global strategy against terrorism, which member nations began debating in the General Assembly yesterday. Secretary-General Kofi Annan earlier...

While many journalists were embedded with U.S. military units during the initial invasion of Iraq, today such deployments are few and far between. Today instead, what is often portrayed as reports from "on the ground" are more often what we veterans call "balcony reporting." The embed program allowed journalists to live, eat, sleep and patrol with a company- or platoon-size unit for an extended...

The British Council is launching a media guide to the Muslim community next week, to be used as a reference source and training tool for young journalists. Put together by writer Ehsan Masood, British Muslims: Media Guide is being will be published by Counterpoint, the British Council's think-tank on cultural relations. It will aim to address issues such as: how British Muslims feel they are...

Journalists and private detectives who buy and sell personal information should be sent to prison for up to two years, the information commissioner Richard Thomas said today. Mr Thomas was presenting a report to parliament reflecting his concern that confidential information can too easily be obtained from public and private organisations, particularly by newspaper reporters. The report - called...

A man believed to be a top al Qaeda militant who escaped from a US airbase in Afghanistan urged Muslims in an internet video to launch attacks in Europe as revenge for cartoons that lampooned the Prophet Mohammad. A website often used by militants posted a video from a man identified as Abu Yahya al-Libi in which he called for Muslims to "send rivers of blood" down the streets of Denmark, Norway...

If you work in the advertising industry, you may have come across the word concept used as a verb, as in, "He's the only creative person I ever met that had his ideas concepted, shot and edited the moment he presented it to you," from a recent issue of Adweek. If you're not in advertising–and even if you are–you may find this usage extremely unpleasant. Copywriter Ray Del Salvio is fond of it...

BERLIN, May 12 (UPI) -- Germany's Federal Intelligence Service has spied on the professional and private lives of numerous journalists, according to a report. A classified report delivered to a parliamentary commission overseeing the intelligence services, or BND, proves the agency also contacted journalists to inform them about their colleagues' work, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper said...