Conflict Journalism

A man purporting to lead an African branch of the al Qaeda militant network claimed responsibility on Tuesday for the beheading of a Sudanese newspaper editor who was found dead last week. The man, in a statement distributed to Sudanese newspapers, called editor Mohamed Taha a "dog of dogs from the ruling party", and accused him of insulting the prophet Mohammad. "Three individuals from this...

American journalist Paul Salopek was released Saturday from a prison in the war-torn Darfur region where he was held for more than a month on espionage charges, news agencies reported. A judge in the North Darfur capital of al-Fasher released the Chicago Tribune journalist and his Chadian driver and interpreter after a 13-minute hearing. FREE AND BACK: New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, right...

WHEN Russia’s most wanted terrorist was killed two months ago, Elina Ersenoyeva, a young Chechen journalist, could not hide her relief. At last she felt it was safe to tell her mother that seven months earlier she had been secretly forced to marry Shamil Basayev, the man behind the Beslan school massacre and a string of other bloody attacks. With her husband dead her double life had come to an end...

New York, September 8, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Sri Lankan authorities to fulfill their duty to protect the staff of the pro-Tamil Jaffna newspaper Uthayan, which was threatened and coerced on Thursday. The incident was the latest in a series of attacks and acts of intimidation against the newspaper. E. Saravanapavan, Uthayan’s managing director, said two men, one...

BEIRUT: It's been said that the vibrancy of a city's media culture is a good indication of that city's quality of life. A metropolis with a lot of magazines is a metropolis with a lot going on. If one were to survey the newsstands in Beirut earlier this summer, one would have been impressed with the number of new and established titles on display - a spate of fashion rags, business journals and...

Kathmandu - A visiting international press freedom group advised Nepal's new government Thursday to make changes to preserve and strengthen press freedom in the country that emerged in April from direct rule by King Gyanendra. The group - headed by Christopher Warren, president of the International Federation of Journalists - gave a five-point recommendation to the ruling Seven-Party Alliance...

MOSCOW -- Two years ago the new school term began in horror for the town of Beslan in North Ossetia. Chechen terrorists seized School Number One, and in the tragic events that followed, more than 330 civilians were killed, including 186 children. Today the organized relatives of Beslan victims claim that the officials have done nothing to establish the real picture of the tragedy. "It is obvious...

An unidentified group of gunmen kidnapped Nadarajah Kuruparan, a senior Tamil radio journalist in Sri Lanka, last Tuesday and held him captive for nearly 24 hours. While it remains unclear exactly who carried out the abduction, there is every reason to believe that the military, or Tamil paramilitary groups aligned with the military, was responsible. The Colombo government and the military have...

QUETTA, Sep 1 (Pajhwok Afghan News): An Afghan journalist was arrested and later released by Pakistani security agencies on Chaman - Spin Boldak border crossing on Thursday. Ghousuddin Firoten, an Afghan national and correspondent of the Prague-based Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, was detained by intelligence officials as he crossed into Pakistan on Thursday morning. The intelligence officials...

There is an Arabic TV channel dying to keep alive the debate on “mughamaraat” (adventures). Since the crippled cease-fire in Lebanon, there is a concerted attempt (otherwise, why are the viewers strangled with monotony?) to discredit the resistance fighters. So the “experts” are logging in many many-hours to prove to the Muslim public (which is no more for sale) that it was the unwarranted risk...