Ethics and Freedom

Reporters Without Borders hails a House of Representatives vote on 16 October approving, by a very large majority, a proposed Free Flow of Information Act that would protect journalists from having to reveal their confidential sources to federal courts. The press freedom organisation nonethless is concerned about the threat of a presidential veto that was brandished after the 16 October vote. “The...

Eritrea has replaced North Korea in last place in an index measuring the level of press freedom in 169 countries throughout the world published Tuesday by Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) for the sixth year running. Outside Europe — in which the top 14 countries are located — no region of the world has been spared censorship or violence towards journalists. “There is nothing surprising about

Turkey continues to use the judicial system to curb free expression. Journalists are still being charged under Article 301 of Turkey's Penal Code, which makes "insulting Turkishness" a crime punishable by prison terms. In the first six months of this year, 451 people were involved in 94 trials for using their right to freedom of expression out of which 17 were under Article 301. The controversial

NEW YORK: Supporters of Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein, who has been held without charge by U.S. officials in Iraq for 18 months, marked the year-and-a-half anniversary Friday by presenting an online petition with 1,500 signatures to several top federal officials, organizers said. In a letter faxed Friday to the White House, U.S. State Department, the Speaker of the House of...

(CMFR/IFEX) - A committee of the Philippine Senate has summoned a national daily reporter in connection with her investigation into a leak in the proceedings of an executive session held on 26 September 2007. The Senate ethics committee wants Juliet Labog Javellana of the Manila broadsheet "Philippine Daily Inquirer" to reveal her sources for a story she wrote on what transpired during the...

(ARTICLE 19/IFEX) - Information Commissioners from six European countries have added their voices to a broad coalition of over 500 NGOs and individuals calling on the Council of Europe to reinforce its proposed European Convention on Access to Official Documents. The drafting group, which convenes for its last scheduled meeting from October 9 - 12, also faces calls from the OSCE to ensure the...

(IFJ/IFEX) - The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), the regional group of the International Federation of Journalists, today announced its support for the "Perpignan Call," a petition in favor of the right to information through pictures and the right to publish news photographs. The petition was jointly launched by the International Festival of Photojournalism "Visa pour l?Image" and by...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Associated Press is suing VeriSign Inc to stop its online subsidiary Moreover Technologies Inc from publishing AP news reports without permission. The AP lawsuit, filed on Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, seeks unspecified damages and a permanent injunction against VeriSign and Moreover. A VeriSign official was not immediately...

Nagpur, Oct 6: Sahara Samay journalist Shanker Arnimesh was today apprehended when he was trying to cover an Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) programme here, Sahara Samay sources said. Animesh, an PIB card holder journalist, was taken into custody for an hour. The Sahara Samay journalist produced his identity cards and other relevant documents before the police officials but the cops did not pay...

FORT COLLINS, Colorado (CNN) -- The editor-in-chief of Colorado State University's newspaper will keep his job after he published a four-word column that said, "Taser this: F**k Bush." The CSU Board of Student Communications met Thursday for nearly four hours in a closed hearing before deciding to admonish instead of fire Rocky Mountain Collegian editor-in-chief David McSwane. Speaking for the...