International

As suicide attacks multiplied, Pakistan became the world’s deadliest country for the press in 2010 with eight journalists killed in connection to their work, constituting a significant portion of the worldwide death toll of 42, the Committee to Protect Journalists found in its year-end analysis. Iraq with four killings, followed by Honduras and Mexico with three killings each, also ranked high for...

UNESCO and Al-Jazeera Satellite Network have signed an agreement to promote freedom of expression and access to information in the Arab world. UNESCO’s Director-General Irina Bokova and Al-Jazeera’s Director-General, Wadah Khanfar, signed the Memorandum of Understanding in Doha (Qatar) during Bokova’s official visit to the country. “This agreement advances a new kind of partnership UNESCO is...

An International Symposium on Freedom of Expression, sponsored by the Swedish National Commission, will be organised by UNESCO at its Headquarters on January 26, 2011. Based on the premises that freedom of expression is a cornerstone of the human rights edifice, and that open and participatory communication is vital for successful development, the debates will focus on the status of press freedom...

Iran’s sustained crackdown on critical voices and China’s brutal suppression of ethnic journalism have pushed the number of journalists imprisoned worldwide to its highest level since 1996, the Committee to Protect Journalists has found. In its annual census of imprisoned journalists, CPJ identified 145 reporters, editors, and photojournalists behind bars on December 1, an increase of nine from

Press freedom groups have condemned the blocking, cyber-attacks and political pressure being directed at cablegate.wikileaks.org, the website dedicated to the leaked US diplomatic cables. ARTICLE 19, Index on Censorship, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) have come down heavily on the attempts to hound and eventually silence WikiLeaks. Earlier...

Outstanding journalists at the forefront of the battle for press freedom in Ethiopia, Iran, Russia, and Venezuela were honored Tuesday evening at the Committee to Protect Journalists' 20th Annual International Press Freedom Awards benefit dinner. The event raised a record of nearly $1.5 million for CPJ's work exposing press freedom violations, providing assistance to targeted journalists, and...

The pressure used by the US and Iraqi authorities in an attempt to prevent the website Wikileaks from releasing about 400,000 “classified” US military documents about the war in Iraq was both absurd and contrary to the principle of access to public information, Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has said. The documents shed light on the scale of the violence that the...

In a constitutional board meeting on Monday, following IPI’s 59th General Assembly, IPI’s Executive Board reconstituted itself, appointing as new Chairman Prof Carl-Eugen Eberle, Director of Legal Affairs, ZDF German Television, Germany. Prof Eberle takes over from former IPI Chairman Janne Virkkunen, Editor-in-Chief, Helsingin Sanomat, Finland, who had held the position since June 2008. The newly...

(ARTICLE 19/IFEX) - Information Commissioners from six European countries have added their voices to a broad coalition of over 500 NGOs and individuals calling on the Council of Europe to reinforce its proposed European Convention on Access to Official Documents. The drafting group, which convenes for its last scheduled meeting from October 9 - 12, also faces calls from the OSCE to ensure the...

(IFJ/IFEX) - Representatives of member organisations of the South Asian Media Solidarity Network, at a meeting in Kathmandu on September 15, 2007 supported by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (foundation), unanimously adopted a new charter. The charter will be the basis for SAMSN's transition from an open platform to a formally structured organisation with an agreed charter and a wide and inclusive...