Ethics and Freedom

The editor of the Arabic-language weekly Nichane and its sister French-language weekly TelQuel, has been charged with “disrespect for the king” under article 41 of the Moroccan press law. Ahmed Benchemsi received a summons from the Casablanca judicial police for the first time on August 4 after the latest issue of Nichane had been seized from news stands on the orders of Prime Minister Driss...

Seventeen German journalists are under investigation in the alleged leak of classified documents given to a parliamentary committee. The documents related to a parliamentary inquiry into possible German government complicity in CIA prisoner flights and the detention of two men. German opposition parties have condemned a criminal investigation into journalists accused of quoting from classified...

Ethiopia's High Court has imposed heavy prison sentences on four journalists jailed in connection with their coverage of deadly post-election unrest in 2005, after the journalists waived their defence and pleaded guilty in anticipation of a pardon, according to the Comittee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). All of them worked for now-defunct Amharic-language weeklies. Editors Dawit Kebede of Hadar and...

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. A newspaper reluctantly turned over 144 unpublished photographs taken during a State Street gang fight that resulted in the stabbing death of a teenager. Santa Barbara Daily Sound editor and publisher Jeramy Gordon, calling it "a sad day for journalism and for our rights as Americans," turned over the March 14 gang fight photos to Superior Court. Judge Brian Hill ordered...

Reporters Without Borders condemns the government’s confiscation yesterday of the latest issues of the Arabic-language weekly Nichane and the French-language weekly TelQuel for “failing to respect” King Mohammed. “Press freedom violations are mounting dangerously in Morocco,” the organisation said. “The political and judicial authorities must abandon this archaic practice of systematically...

Lucknow --- In the hearing related to Ambedkar Sports Complex, additional advocate general JN Mathur said that certain news items published on Friday in an English daily (TOI) regarding the stadium facilities were highly contemptuous. On this, the bench said that the government "could take appropriate action in law if it thinks so but the throat of media cannot be gagged in democracy". The bench...

A Spanish-language newscaster who had an affair with the mayor of Los Angeles has been suspended for two months for violating conflict-of-interest policies, her network said Thursday. Mirthala Salinas was having the relationship with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa when she announced the news of his separation from his wife of 20 years on local Telemundo station KVEA, Channel 52, an Associated Press...

The ruling by the British House of Lords in favour of freelance journalist Robin Ackroyd is being hailed as a major victory for investigative journalism. The ruling brought to an end one of the longest running legal battles over protection of journalists' sources in the United Kingdom. The House of Lords, Britain's highest legal authority, refused to grant the Mersey Care Hospital Trust leave to...

Reporters Without Borders called today for the release of Farshad Gorbanpour, who was arrested yesterday along with fellow journalist Masoud Bastani on the orders of Tehran prosecutor Said Mortazavi. Bastani was freed after several hours but Gorbanpour was transferred to Evin prison. This brings the number of journalists and cyber-dissidents detained in Iran to 11. Also yesterday, a Tehran...

SANTA BARBARA, Calif.—A newspaper was ordered by a judge to turn over 144 unpublished crime-scene photographs to the lawyer for a teenager charged with murder in a gang fight. The Santa Barbara Daily Sound was given until Friday to provide the images to the county public defender's office, which is representing defendant Ricardo Juarez. The newspaper could be held in contempt of court if it misses...