News

10 May 2006 - Today, ARTICLE 19 releases an analysis of the Maldives Freedom of Press Bill against international standards on freedom of expression. The analysis concludes that while the Bill contains some positive safeguards for freedom of expression, these are outweighed by numerous broad and vaguely worded restrictions that may be abused to control the media. The Bill needs to be amended to...

NEW YORK: International wire service Reuters has invested in Global Voices Online, a non-profit global citizens' media project, sponsored by and launched from the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School. "Support from Reuters will also allow us to do more outreach and training in parts of the world where there are currently few bloggers. Reuters’ generosity allows us to...

ILLINOIS – More than 2,500 copies of an Illinois college student newspaper containing the cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad were stolen on Friday. Kristina Zaremba, editor in chief of the Courier, the student newspaper at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Ill., said the papers went missing shortly after they were distributed Friday morning. Zaremba said the cartoons were published along...

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Knight Ridder Inc. (KRI) Chairman and Chief Executive P. Anthony Ridder could be entitled to a $9.4-million cash severance payment once the company's planned merger with McClatchy Co. (MNI) closes. According to a regulatory filing from McClatchy on Wednesday, the payment would be made if, during the three-year period following a change of control of the merged company...

Readers want more context and background included in news reporting. They want new ways to receive their news, on next-generation handheld devices, for instance, rather than simply on a Web page. They want fewer ads – especially the kind that animate or show up in popup windows. It turns out that they also want more-telegenic news reporters. These are among the things readers expect from the news...

BAGHDAD, 9 May 2006 (IRIN) - The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has said that the killing of two Iraqi media workers whose bodies were recently discovered south of Baghdad "reflects the continuing dangers for journalists working in Iraq". Laith al-Dulaimi, a reporter for the privately-owned TV station Al-Nahrain, and Muazaz Ahmed Barood, a telephone operator for the station...

During the dot-com boom, more than a few Internet start-ups planned to support free Internet services--and theoretically turn a profit--by selling online advertisements. Needless to say, for many it didn't work. Now a new group of companies, ranging from tech giants to the tiniest of Silicon Alley start-ups, are banking on ad sales to support new Net services. Microsoft, for one, is pushing full...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has expressed concern over the validity of recent figures released by the Philippine National Police (PNP) which claim the majority of cases of media murders have been solved. According to IFJ affiliate, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), there have been 76 cases of media killings since 1986, 40 of which have occurred in...

New York, May 9, 2006 - Despite domestic and international pressure for reform, government and religious authorities in Saudi Arabia employ a wide array of behind-the-scenes controls to curtail coverage of sensitive religious and political news. Writers are routinely blacklisted, editors dismissed, and news blacked out, the Committee to Protect Journalists has found in a new report. Religious...

9 May 2006 - Members of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange's (IFEX) Tunisia Monitoring Group (TMG) are deeply concerned that, despite its unrelenting attacks on press freedom, free expression and freedom of association, the Tunisian government today became a member of the newly established UN Human Rights Council. "The UN Human Rights Council may soon lose its credibility if it is...