Controversies & Scandals

Protests are being held across the Middle East demainding release of the Iraqi journalist who is being held for throwing his shoes at US President George W Bush on Sunday. Huge crowds have been demonstrating in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities to demand TV reporter Muntadar al-Zaidi's release and echo his message to Bush, Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported. Ordinary Iraqis are...

The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at US President George W Bush was hit on the head with a rifle butt and had an arm broken in chaotic scenes when he was leapt on by Iraqi security officers, his brother said Tuesday. According to Reuters, TV reporter Muntadar al-Zaidi, who called Bush a "dog" at a news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Sunday, was in a hospital in the...

Thousands of Iraqis took to the streets Monday to demand the release of a journalist who threw his shoes at US President George W Bush, news agencies have reported. Journalist Muntadar al-Zaidi, who was abducted by Shiite militants last year, was being held by Iraqi security and interrogated about whether anybody paid him to throw his shoes at Bush during a press conference the previous day in...

An Australian television correspondent who said he was traumatised from covering wars and natural disasters has been sentenced to jail for 10 months by a Singapore court for drug offences. Peter Lloyd, 42, New Delhi-based correspondent for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), was arrested while on holiday in Singapore on July 16, and pleaded guilty to three drug-related offences. In...

Nigeria's National Broadcasting Commission restored Friday the broadcasting licence of Channels Television, two days after it was revoked for mistakenly reporting a fabricated report that the president may resign due to his health. NBC said the station apologised and accepted responsibility for the false report, according to Reuters. NBC director-general Yomi Bolarinwa said the commission was...

The European Federation of Journalists has condemned the administrators of football in Romania for encouraging violent attacks on sports journalists. The Romanian Football Federation (FRF), led by president Mircea Sandu, a member of the Executive Committee of the European Football Federation UEFA, has encouraged some football professionals in Romania to act violently, including throwing stones and...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has welcomed the decision by the 2008 Academy of the Chernoritzets Hrabar award in Sofia, on the recommendation of the Union of Bulgarian Publishers, to revoke a prize awarded earlier this year to a racist journalist. The prestigious Young Journalist of the Year prize given to Kalin Rumenov, a journalist with the Novinar national newspaper...

A weekend newspaper cartoon depicting the head of South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC), Jacob Zuma, unbuckling his trousers allegedly to rape justice has sparked the ire of the party and its allies -- the South African Communist Party and the ANC Youth League, according news reports. According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), the Sunday Times cartoon showed Zuma, who is fighting to...

The International Federation of Journalists has called for a "wide-ranging and honest" debate within Bulgarian journalism over intolerance in media following the presentation of a journalism prize by press owners to a reporter who has a reputation for hate-speech. IFJ says the award of this year's Chernorizetz Hrabur Young Journalist of the Year prize to Kalin Rumenov, a journalist with the...

In an error that could have cost Apple investors millions of dollars the Bloomberg financial newswire accidentally published a 17-page obituary of Apple CEO Steve Jobs on Wednesday. Bloomberg dispatched the Apple supremo to the hereafter with the obit inadvertently published during an update, gossip blog Gawker reported on Thursday. The short-lived homage – quickly pulled – contained a...