Conflict Journalism

A bomb was exploded at around 1 a.m. on January 16 at the foot of a television transmitter in the Basque country causing limited damage but no injuries, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. The transmitter was located in the Santa Barbara hills near the city of Hernani, in Guipúzcoa province. No group claimed responsibility for the bombing, but police found a message inside the...

Press freedom groups have welcomed the release of a freelance Somali photojournalist and two Somali drivers on Thursday but remain concerned over the fate of two foreign freelance reporters who have been held since their abduction on August 23, 2008, by unknown gunmen. Photojournalist Abdifatah Elmi was working as a fixer and translator for Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout and Australian...

A charge has been brought at the behest at interior minister Tomislav Karamarko against a journalist who writes about war crimes in the 1990s. Zeljko Peratovic is accused of “disseminating information likely to upset the population” under article 322/1 KZA of the criminal code, which carries a maximum sentence of a year in prison as well as a possible fine, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has...

The International News Safety Institute (INSI) has backed a call by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) for the United Nations to investigate the targeting of media by Israeli forces in Gaza. Israeli military actions in Gaza appear to amount to a clear violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1738 which demands all parties in armed conflict comply with their obligations under...

Two east Jerusalem employees of a production company servicing various media outlets worldwide, including one based in Iran, were indicted in Israel Tuesday for breaking Israeli military censorship, the Ynet news site reported. Kadir Shahin, a reporter with Iranian Arabic-speaking Alalam television station, and producer Muhammad Sarhan are accused of reporting that Israeli ground troops had...

Sri Lanka's government censured a senior international diplomat after he spoke at the funeral of a newspaper editor whose murder has been blamed on the island's rulers, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported Wednesday. German ambassador Jurgen Weerth was ordered to the Colombo foreign office and told of Sri Lanka's anger over his graveside eulogy for Lasantha Wickrematunga, officials who declined to...

A number of prominent Israeli human rights groups have slammed local media outlets for muzzling criticism of the army's deadly offensive in the Gaza Strip. "Opinions criticising the decision to launch the offensive or the army's conduct during the war are hardly heard," the heads of eight rights organisations wrote in a letter to the editors of Israeli papers, television news channels, radios and...

The abductors of Canadian freelance journalist Beverly Giesbrecht in Pakistan have made ransom demands, according to Canadian Press news agency. The Pakistani International News website, citing unnamed sources, reported that the abductors want the equivalent of about $150,000 and the release of their colleagues from the Bagram jail in Afghanistan, in exchange for the release of Beverly Giesbrecht...

Gunmen on a motorcycle Thursday shot and killed the editor of a Sri Lankan newspaper critical of the government, the second violent attack on media this week. Sunday Leader Chief Editor Lasantha Wickramatunga was in a car on his way to work when he was attacked, Wickramatunga's brother Lal told Reuters. "The gunman smashed the window of the vehicle and shot at him," Lal Wickramatunga said. Doctors...

Adnan Demir, editor of liberal Turkish daily Taraf is facing trial for publishing confidential military information. The prosecutor at the Istanbul higher court on January 6 called for a sentence of 3-5 years against Demir, Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. The newspaper in October 2008 had carried a series of articles on an attack on October 4, carried out and claimed by...