Conflict Journalism

A court in Turkey on Thursday rejected a request for the provisional release of investigative journalists Ahmet Sik and Nedim Sener, who were arrested on March 3. They will now have to spend months in prison pending trial on a charge of belonging to an alleged conspiracy called Ergenekon, which the authorities regard as “terrorist organisation.” The court ordered their continued detention under...

Four New York Times journalists – Beirut bureau chief Anthony Shadid, reporter and videographer Stephen Farrell and photographers Tyler Hicks and Lynsey Addario – went missing on March 15 while reporting in the Libyan port city of Ajdabiya. In a report posted on its website Wednesday, the New York Times said it had received no news of the four since the previous day. It added that it was in...

Thirteen journalists killed in the past 13 months. The world’s deadliest country for media personnel in 2010, with 11 killed, Pakistan continues to be one of the most dangerous in 2011. As well as being very badly paid, its journalists are exposed to every kind of danger. With its tribal northwest, its border with Afghanistan, its tension with India and its chaotic political history, Pakistan is...

Hamas security forces attacked local journalists covering a peaceful demonstration calling for Palestinian national unity on Tuesday. At least one journalist was taken to the hospital after being beaten, according to CPJ research. New York-based press freedom group Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned the violence used against the press and calls on the authorities in Gaza to allow...

Armed assailants stormed the Manama printing facility of the Bahraini independent daily Al-Wasat early Tuesday morning, damaging the press and hindering production of the day's edition. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the attack, which came just as military contingents from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were enlisted to help contain political unrest in the kingdom. In...

La Voz de Zacate Grande, a community radio station based on the southern island of Zacate Grande, has again been the target of persecution for siding with local peasant groups in their land disputes with biofuel manufacturer Miguel Facussé Barjum, according to Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). In the latest aggression, Franklin Meléndez, the president of the board...

A trial has been opened against Radikal newspaper reporter Ertugrul Mavioglu following the filing of a complaint with the Istanbul Chief Prosecution, according to press freedom group BIANET. Mavioglu stands accused of "spreading propaganda for an illegal organisation" on the grounds of his interview with Murat Karayilan, leader of the armed outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), at the Qandil...

Israel has complained to the UN over the planned screening of a controversial new film by acclaimed US film-maker Julian Schnabel at its headquarters in New York, according to the Guardian. Miral, which stars Slumdog Millionaire's Freida Pinto as a young Palestinian girl caught up in the Arab-Israeli conflict, will receive a red carpet screening at the UN general assembly hall. The film is based...

Security forces loyal to Ivorian ruler Laurent Gbagbo blocked distribution on Friday of pro-opposition newspapers reporting on the African Union's decision to confirm its recognition of rival Alassane Ouattara as president. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the obstruction and called on authorities to halt further censorship. Before dawn on Friday morning, agents loyal to Ggabgo...

Authorities in Yemen and Bahrain are continuing to obstruct news coverage of ongoing political unrest, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Monday as it called on the two government to allow journalists to work without reprisal. In Yemen, at least six international journalists were expelled since Saturday, according to news reports and CPJ interviews. In Bahrain, security forces and...