Conflict Journalism

Noor Hassan, a reporter for the Royal News television channel, was abducted on February 8 in Swat, the epicentre of fundamentalist militant insurgency in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP). He was released the next morning in Islamabad, the capital city of Pakistan, the Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) has reported. Hassan told PPF that he, along with Royal TV reporter Mohammed Ilyas...

A journalist from the pan-Arab satellite channel Al-Arabiyya has been expelled from the Gaza Strip to Egypt, allegedly because of his coverage of Israel’s military operation in Gaza, and its aftermath, Media Line website has reported. Police belonging to the Interior Ministry in the Hamas’ Gaza-based deposed government ordered Al-Arabiyya correspondent, Wa'il Issam, to leave the Gaza Strip...

The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at ex-US President George W Bush faces trial next week for assaulting a foreign leader after an appellate court refused to reduce the charge, the Associated Press (AP) has reported quoting a judicial official. Muntadar al-Zaidi, 30, who won folk hero status throughout the Arab world for his protest, has been in custody since the December 14, 2008 outburst...

The trial of four people accused of journalist Anna Politkovskaya’s murder resumed Tuesday last before a military court in Moscow after the latest of many adjournments. Marked by many irregularities, the trial has exposed gaps in the investigation and has raised the question why the case was handed over to a court so soon, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has said. “This trial has seen major...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has warned that a call by the United Nations Special Envoy in Somalia, Ahmed Ould Abdallh, to suspend news reporting from Somalia was an "ill-thought out and counter-productive" response to the media crisis in the country. "We oppose this move because it will not work and could make the situation even worse for journalists," said Aidan White, IFJ...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has urged Pakistani authorities to act effectively to protect Kamal Asfar, journalist on the magazine Ash-Sharq (The East), who on February 1 escaped a murder attempt. His brother, journalist, Aamir Wakil, was killed in Rawalpindi on January 24. “I am lucky to be alive today”, Asfar told the worldwide press freedom organisation. Two bearded men had fired several...

Four hostages released last weekend by Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) said at a press conference recently that the leftist guerrilla group had declared the Colombian media a "military target," according to Colombian and international news reports. The statement stirred a heated debate among Colombian journalists over coverage of guerrilla groups, the Committee to Protect...

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on Israel to return confiscated news footage of its navy allegedly firing on and boarding a ship on Thursday. Journalists who were on board say they filmed Israeli soldiers assaulting a passenger, and that they were later beaten after their equipment had been confiscated, a reporter who was there told CPJ. According to Al-Jazeera English...

The director of HornAfrik, one of Somalia's leading radio and television stations, was killed by three masked gunmen in the Bakara Market area of Mogadishu on Tuesday afternoon, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. The assailants shot Said Tahlil repeatedly as he and six other senior journalists were walking to a meeting with members of the militant Al-Shabaab group. "We send...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has denied claims from political leaders in Gaza that it was biased in its claims of Hamas interference and intimidation of journalists. In a statement issued on January 25, Hamas accused IFJ of "baseless statements" and "unacceptable partiality" following its comments after a two-day mission of international journalists' leaders to Gaza last week...