The Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) has condemned the attack on Montenegrin sports commentator and journalist Mladen Stojovic. Stojovic, a journalist with the daily Danas and Belgrade correspondent of the Podgorica-based daily Vijesti, was assaulted Friday May 23, in his apartment in Bar. Heavy blows on his head caused amnesia, and Mladen Stojovic cannot remember exactly what...
Salimzhan Gaisin, deputy editor-in-chief of the newspaper Saratovsky Reporter, has been found guilty of a crime under Article 129 of the Russian Criminal Code (for "Slander in the Mass Media"), according to the Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations (CJES). In summer 2007, a group of residents in the village of Bulgakovka, located in the Voskresensk district of Saratov region, complained to...
Kosovan journalist Baton Haxhiu pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to charges of publishing the name of a protected witness during the war crimes trial of Kosovo's former Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, according to a Reuters report. Prosecutors at the U.N. tribunal in The Hague had indicted the Kosovan journalist and had him arrested on Tuesday for contempt of court. He was the third Kosovo...
Agil Khalil, a reporter for the Azerbaijani opposition daily Azadlyg has been assaulted several times in the past three months. Authorities have taken no measures to guarantee his protection, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). On May 10, Khalil tried to fly to Istanbul to visit his relatives, but border guards at the airport in Baku stopped him, citing an order by the...
The International Press Institute (IPI) has expressed its disappointment at the adoption of a package of reforms to the Slovene penal code, which includes amendments that expand liability for criminal defamation. According to information before IPI, a government-backed bill containing sweeping reforms to the Slovene criminal code was introduced to the Slovene Parliament on January 28, 2008. The...
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev to veto a bill that would reverse efforts to reform Kyrgyzstan’s state television and radio company (KTR) into a public broadcaster. Kyrgyzstan’s parliament passed the bill on April 24. It gives the president the right to appoint KTR’s chief executives and affirms the state’s monopoly on national...
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) voted Thursday on a White Paper that recognises the importance of sports journalism in Europe. Several MEPs had proposed amendments to the Mavrommatis report on sport, which would have severely limited the freedom of news media to report freely on sports events, for the enjoyment of their readers across Europe. Following a call by media and journalists'...
Turkey's president has approved an amendment enhancing free speech. President Abdullah Gul signed the amendment Wednesday, according to Anatolia news agency. It changes a law restricting free speech that had been used to prosecute many intellectuals, including Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk. Turkey's parliament approved the amendment to Article 301 of the penal code last week. The president had to...
Publishing giant Bonnier AB was responsible for delivering a secret complaint to the EU Commission about state support to the press in Sweden, the Local has reported. The revelation was made clear by their reply to the government’s call for comments on a new legislative proposal on the matter. Some details: The analysis of operational support included in the comment is the same as that done in the...
The Kremlin is planning to give foreign news agencies greater access in covering the new president, according to the Moscow Times. Under the plan, reporters representing foreign news wires such as The Associated Press and Reuters will be allowed the same travel opportunities as their Russian counterparts, but they will have to be Russian citizens, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday. Some...
