International

The panic in Western African countries hit by the Ebola epidemic is taking its toll on local news media. Some countries are “quarantining” their journalists to prevent them covering this unprecedented public health crisis although responsible media coverage is badly needed. Last weekend in Guinea, soldiers prevented a group of lawyers and journalists from travelling to a village in N’ZérÃ...

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), the Swiss professional association of journalists Impressum, Amnesty International, the University of Fribourg, Reporters Without Borders and Press Emblem Campaign (PEC) adopted a joint resolution at the end of the third Forum on the journalism September 24 in Lausanne. The resolution calls: Publishers to provide sufficient human and material resources...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) today expressed dismay at the failure of the European Union to recognise the public’s Right to Access Information. The EU Human Rights Guidelines on Freedom of Expression Online and Offline were formally adopted by the European Council’s Foreign Affairs meeting on 12 May, despite the IFJ, EFJ and...

The Committee to Protect Journalists congratulates Turkish investigative journalist and book author Ahmet Şık on being awarded UNESCO's prestigious Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize. The annual prize, named after slain Colombian journalist Guillermo Cano Isaza, honors a journalist or organization that "has made an outstanding contribution to the defense of press freedom." Şık will...

The Committee to Protect Journalists has hailed the decision by the European Court of Justice on April 8 invalidating the European Union's mandatory data retention directive. The court found that the indiscriminate collection of metadata poses a "particularly serious" and disproportional interference with the right to privacy. Mass metadata surveillance is "likely to generate in the minds of the...

The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) and the World Editors Forum have launched an exciting online campaign to highlight the plight of jailed journalists worldwide. In the 30-day lead-up to May 3, World Press Freedom Day, daily profiles of imprisoned journalists will be published on www.worldpressfreedomday.org and linked to protest letters calling for their release...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has called on the European and African Heads of State attending the Africa-EU Summit in Brussels on April 2 to include the continuous imprisonment of journalists in many African states in their discussions. In an open letter sent to the leaders in attendance, the IFJ said that in order to foster long term development in African states a free and...

ARTICLE 19 has launched The Free Flow Principles: Freedom of Expression and Rights to Water and Sanitation on the ever of World Water Day. The Principles, developed in cooperation with experts and activists from around the world, provide guidance to policy makers and activists on how freedom of expression and information can help secure the rights to water and sanitation. "While the rights to...

Twitter is trying to encourage journalists, with the company publishing guidelines designed to help journalists — traditional, new media, professional, citizen — to use the platform effectively, The Australian has reported. Twitter for Newsrooms, which went live last week at media.twitter.com/newsrooms, is split into four main categories, starting with "Report", which shows how to use Twitter's...

Consider some of the past week's headlines: "Two photojournalists killed, two seriously injured in mortar fire in Libya; Journalists still being harassed as protests get stronger in the Middle East; Another Sri Lankan journalist arrested." Every day across the world, journalists, editors and publishers are murdered, assaulted, detained or harassed. Their publications are censored, fined, suspended...