Asia

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has expressed concern over a murder attempt on Filipino radio journalist Cherie “Katribung Che” Indelible on January 2 in Kalibo, in Aklan province (in the northwest of the Visayas region). Indelible works for local state-owned radio dyYM (Community Broadcasting Information System) as news director and programme host. “With five journalists murdered, 2008 was one of...

Threats and physical attacks against Pakistani journalists in the northwestern Tribal Area of Bajaur, where fighting is continuing between the Taliban and security forces, remains as unabated. The issuing of a fatwa against two journalists and the firing of a rocket-propelled grenade at a press club are just a few recent incidents. "The Tribal Areas are being steadily emptied of their journalists

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has condemned the ongoing legal harassment of BBC correspondent in Thailand, Jonathan Head. Police Lt Col Wattanasak Mungkandee filed a third criminal complaint this year against Head on December 23, alleging he had insulted the Thai monarchy in his reporting. The latest charges are related to a December 3 article in which Head speculated that the royal...

More than 10 journalists were injured on Monday when the police tried to break up a rally taken out in capital Kathmandu by the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) to protest Sunday's attack on Himalmedia by supporters of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), the principal constituent of the ruling coalition in Nepal. According to ekantipur.com, the police personnel at Maitighar Mandala, a...

A Catholic newspaper in Malaysia may have just two more weeks in print unless the government backs off a threat to close it down over its use of the word "Allah" to describe the Christian god, Reuters has reported. The newspaper says that it is a victim of politics and that the government that has ruled Malaysia for 51 years since independence from Britain is stoking religious conflict in a bid to...

The Korean government must act urgently over fears for the future of press freedom in the country, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has urged. The call is among a number of IFJ proposals to end the deadlock between staff and management in a 154-day battle over editorial independence at the broadcaster YTN, a 24-hour news network. IFJ, which has concluded an emergency mission to...

A Sri Lankan court has ruled that an alleged confession made by senior Tamil journalist JS Tissainayagam while detained by the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) was voluntary and admissible as evidence in his trial on terrorism charges, according to delayed reports. It is widely believed that Tissainayagam was forced to make a statement to TID under extreme duress. Giving evidence in Colombo...

Pakistani businessman Munir Mengal, a member of the Balochi minority who was arrested for planning to launch a Balochi satellite TV station and detained by military intelligence (MI) and the police, was kept incommunicado for 16 months under the orders of then President Pervez Musharraf. Mengal made this revelation to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) during an interview in a European country where...

Press freedom groups are calling for transparency in the investigation of two journalists arrested on bribery charges in northern Shanxi province. Shanxi public security officials told local journalists on Monday that Guan Jian, a reporter for Beijing-based weekly Wangluo Bao (Network News) who had been missing for 15 days, is in custody in neighbouring Hubei province on suspicion of accepting...

Ohn Kyaing, a former Burmese journalist and member of the opposition National League for Democracy, who was arrested from his home on October 1 and held in Rangoon's Insein prison, has been released, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) and the Burma Media Association (BMA) have reported. NLD spokesman Nyan Win said Ohn Kyaing was in good shape and had returned to his home. "I am very happy that Ohn...