Local retransmission of Radio France Internationale (RFI) was disrupted in Cotonou on the morning of March 29 just as it was broadcasting a phone-in programme focussing, on this occasion, on Bénin’s March 13 presidential election, the result of which is disputed by the opposition. Called “Appels sur l’actualité” and hosted by Juan Gomez, the programme is extremely popular in Africa. According of...
Despite the government’s denials, the demands of Turkey’s Kurdish minority continue to be off-limits for the country’s media. Six people have been charged or convicted this month under Anti-Terrorist Law No. 3713 for writing about the subject. The Anti-Terrorist Law will be 20 years old on April 12. It quickly became a weapon that could be used relentlessly against journalists who dare to broach...
The Al-Jazeera pan-Arab satellite channel says it will begin airing a Balkans programme in September, hoping to to establish itself as a regional news hub in the ethnically divided region, says an Agence France-Presse (AFP) report. With powerful public television divided along ethnic lines across the region and dozens of private channels mostly focusing on entertainment, Al-Jazeera Balkans hopes...
European regulators put pressure today on 16 of the EU’s 27 states in moves to ensure bloc-wide media law is implemented at national level. The European Commission has written to the 16, including major European Union television markets in Britain, France and Italy, seeking clarification on “a wide variety of issues” concerning the law’s implementation, says an Agence France-Presse (AFP) report...
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has been given a press freedom award during a visit to Argentina. The University of La Plata said it was honouring him for his efforts to break "media monopolies" in Latin America and support "popular communication". Since becoming president in 1999 Chavez has set up the Telesur network, which offers a state-funded alternative to private television stations across...
The reported that on 27 March 2011 The Agoza misdemeanours appeals court on Sunday upheld a court of first instance ruling imposing a fine of LE5,000 (approx. US$840) on journalist Ahmed Hosni Wadee, of elShorouk newspaper, according to the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI). The decision stems from a lawsuit filed against the journalist by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, based on a...
Radio stations and newspapers in the capital of Togo suspended their normal activities for a day in March in protest against three radio stations having been shut down since December, report the Media Foundation for West Africa and Reporters Without Borders (RSF). Following the media group SOS Journaliste en danger's declaration of a "No Media Day", radio stations only played music on 10 March...
(MISA/IFEX): The government of Swaziland has and continues to threaten with prosecution people who are expressing themselves using popular social media networks such as Facebook. The government has accused the Facebookers of being too critical of the government and ruling elites in Swaziland. On March 25, Prime Minister Barnabas Sibusiso Dlamini assured Senators in Parliament that his government...
(C-Libre/IFEX): Journalists Richard Cásula and Salvador Sandoval, of the Canal 36-Cholusat Sur television station, were injured while they were covering a story at the Honduras Media Education College (Colegio de Profesionales de Educación Media de Honduras, COPEMH). The police were attempting to evict teachers who were staging a protest at the COPEMH premises. Sandoval, a photojournalist...
Sports journalists Pedro Anibal Fernández, Ramón Morales Verduga and Héctor Barre were attacked on March 19 by fans of the Portoviejo University Sports League (LDUP) at the end of a football match at the Reales Tamarindo stadium in the town of Portoviejo, capital of the coastal province of Manabí, located 329 km southwest of Quito. The journalists said that at the end of the match between LDUP and...
