The Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) decreed on Tuesday that journalists should not be jailed over their work, two days after two were jailed for libel, the state WAM news agency reported. Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashed al-Maktoum "has issued instructions ... not to imprison journalists for reasons related to their work," said the head of the National Media Council, Sheikh Abdullah bin
A bewspaper in the southern Russian city of Saratov is facing closure following the campaign launched against it by the United Russia party for “insulting†President Vladimir Putin in a cartoon on its front page. Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has called on the regional court of Saratov to act judiciously and avoid being manipulated when it rules on October 2 on a bid by the pro-Putin United
State-controlled Sri Lankan television station Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC) has sent four of its journalists on compulsory leave after they submitted a letter stating that their professional rights had been disrespected and damaged. According to the Free Media Movement (FMM), SLRC Producers' Union Chairman Kanchana Marasinghe, Organiser Herbert Kumara Alagiyawanna, Athula Peiris and
(IFJ/IFEX) - Today the European Federation of Journalists, the European group of the International Federation of Journalists, brought its full backing to over 400 journalists in Slovenia who signed a petition to denounce intolerable pressure in the newsrooms. "We are appalled that after months of protests and appeals by national and international media organisations the Slovenian authorities keep...
(PEN/IFEX) - Washington, DC, September 25, 2007-The Campaign for Reader Privacy, a coalition of organizations representing librarians, booksellers, publishers, and authors, cheered the introduction on 25 September 2007 of legislation to safeguard the privacy of ordinary Americans and curb the FBI's abuse of the National Security Letter power granted under the USA Patriot Act. National Security...
The Delhi High Court's sentencing of three journalists and the publisher of Mid Day to jail terms is being seeen as a severe blow to press freedom in the country. The order has also brought into focus what ought to constitute contempt of court. Editors of a number of newspapers and television channels in New Delhi Saturday passed a resolution calling upon both the print and electronic media to...
The Editor of a major newspaper has sought an "unconditional apology" before Islamic clerics for an llegedly "blasphemous" cartoon published in a satire supplement of the daily. Prothom Alo Editor Motiur Rahman apologised and promised "not to repeat such mistakes" in future as fellow editors and law advisor of the interim cabinet Mainul Hosein held a meeting with Islamic leaders, including the...
A cartoon about Islam's prophet Mohammed, published in a Swedish newspaper in August, did not constitute incitement to racial hatred, Sweden's justice chancellor has ruled. Three Swedish Muslim organisations had asked Chancellor Goeran Lambertz — the only official in Sweden entitled to indict in cases concerning freedom of the Press — to press charges of incitement to racial hatred against the...
Taking congizance of complaints made by certain NGOs and public organisations, the government has issued show cause notice to a Hindi television channel allegedly narrating "gory details" of how Nithari killer Surender Koli carried out murder of his victims. "The channel Aaj Tak has been asked to reply to our notice. The programme aired last week was gory narrating details of Koli's methods of...
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- A judge on Tuesday ordered Star Tribune publisher Par Ridder to leave his job for a year, a sweeping victory for the rival St. Paul Pioneer Press, which had accused its former publisher of misusing proprietary information. Ridder's actions when he joined the Star Tribune in March caused the Pioneer Press "irreparable harm," Judge David C. Higgs wrote. He said an injunction was...
