Conflict Journalism

Jake Hess, an American freelance journalist who writes for Inter Press Service (IPS), was arrested on August 11 in the mainly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, in southeastern Turkey, and is currently being held at the headquarters of the city’s anti-terrorist unit. Accused of links with the Union of Kurdistan Communities (KSK), a new organisation that is alleged to be an offshoot of the outlawed...

The Lebanese army intelligence department detained journalist Hassan Alleik, a reporter for the Al-Akhbar newspaper, and questioned him for six hours on August 11 about an article published in the newspaper the previous day, according to press freedom group Maharat Foundatin. The article was about the escape of an agent named Ghassan El Jed, who was previously accused by Hezbollah secretary...

The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) has condemned the suspension from work of Nuh Muse Birjeb, a journalist working with the Voice of America (VOA) Somali Service, also the correspondent for Universal TV in the Puntland regions. "The suspension of a journalist who is merely carrying out his media work is a breach of press freedom. We understand that this is the height of a series of...

Trumped-up charges of extremism have been pressed in Kyrgyzstan against Ulugbek Abdusalomov, the editor of an independent newspaper, and Azimjon Askarov, a journalist and human rights defender, according to press freedom group Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Prosecutors in the southern city of Jalal-Abad charged Abdusalomov, editor of the Uzbek-language newspaper Diydor, and Askarov, head...

Sudan has lifted censorship of newspapers. National Intelligence and Security Service NISS Chief Mohamed Atta announced this on Saturday, according to the state-run Sundan Media Centre. NISS said it had observed that the "newspapers have committed to principles and guidelines set for publicity such as being précised (sic) on information set for publicity and observing national interest of the...

There has been a new wave of harassment and violence against journalists in the occupied Palestinian Territories as the political tension between Hamas and Fatah continues to take its toll on the media. In one of the latest cases, Ahmed Fayadh of the Aljazeeranet news website was beaten by police Thursday in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans...

A Russian police officer who got off with a two-year suspended sentence for killing journalist Magomed Yevloyev in 2008 was shot dead by unknown assailants in the Ingush city of Nazran on Wednesday, investigators said. Two men armed with automatic rifles shot Ibragim Yevloyev, 35, and his colleague Beslan Albogachiyev in a downtown cafe, killing Yevloyev and seriously injuring Albogachiyev, a...

If you’re a journalist trying to capture footage of political unrest in Thailand, be warned. Only a few have escaped unscathed from the hands of death while being among the fierce battles between security forces and protesters. Two journalists died and several others were injured during the country’s political unrest. New York-based press freedom group Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has

The author of the Rolling Stone article that ended the military career of Gen Stanley McChrystal, the former top commander in Afghanistan, has been denied permission to join US troops fighting in Afghanistan, the Pentagon said Tuesday, according to the Associated Press. Defence Department spokesman Col David Lapan told reporters that freelance writer Michael Hastings was rebuffed when he asked to...

Timothy Kalyegira, a former Daily Monitor columnist and current publisher of an online newspaper, Tuesday became the first Ugandan to face sedition charges arising from the use of new media, the Daily Monitor has reported. Police on Monday summoned Kalyegira to appear for interrogation over reports that questioned whether it was really the Somali-based militants, the al-Shabaab, that bombed and...