Ethics and Freedom

KANSAS CITY, Mo.: Two newspapers have asked an appeals court to overturn a judge's ruling that forced the papers to remove articles about an area utility from their Web sites and temporarily barred the papers from publishing the story. Lawyers for The Kansas City Star, a daily, and The Pitch, a weekly, filed their motion on Monday, saying Friday's order by Jackson County Circuit Judge Kelly...

US soldiers destroyed images taken by Afghan journalists covering the aftermath of a suicide bomb attack and shooting in eastern Afghanistan Sunday. They were warned not to publish or air any images of US troops or a car where three Afghans were shot to death, the Associated Press (AP) reported. Afghan men shouts anti-American slogans after a car bomber attacked an American convoy in Barayekab in...

Jordan has endorsed controversial press and publication legislations that would slap heavy fines and prison terms on journalists for violations including slander and religious defamation. Journalists can now be convicted of defaming religions protected under the constitution or offending religious prophets in writing or in drawings. A general view shows the cameras Jordanian photographers hung...

MANGALORE: Panambur police picked up B.V. Seetharam, journalist, and his wife Rohini from their house at Kulai on Saturday night. They were produced before the jurisdictional magistrate at his residence who remanded them in judicial custody. The judge has directed the authorities to produce both of them before open court on Monday for further hearing. The authorities were acting on a complaint...

March 2, 2007 · A federal judge issued a one-page order Thursday vacating contempt findings and sanctions in the case of two San Francisco Chronicle reporters who refused to divulge their source in the BALCO steroids investigation. The order from U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White in San Francisco signaled the official end of Lance Williams' and Mark Fainaru-Wada's nearly yearlong legal battle to...

The editor of weekly newspaper AsianWeek has apologised after the Asian-American community in the US condemned a column titled "Why I Hate Blacks." In the article, which appeared in the February 23 edition of San Francisco-based publication, contributor Kenneth Eng listed reasons why he supported discrimination against blacks -- including because "they are the only race that has been enslaved for...

Major newspaper editors have now got together in opposing the British government’s proposed changes to the Freedom of Act Information that would cut down the number of access to information requests and save money. “I can’t remember any time when regional and national editors and broadcast and print are all completely at one,” said the Guardian editor, Alan Rusbridger, said. “I think my sense is...

An Egyptian appeals court on Tuesday overturned a one-year jail term on newspaper editor Ibrahim Issa, convicted of defaming President Hosni Mubarak, and substituted a fine of 22,500 Egyptian pounds ($3,950), according to news reports. Ibrahim Issa, editor-in-chief of the independent Al Dustour weekly newspaper, speaks to the media after an Egyptian appeal court overturned a prison sentence...

Germany's Federal Constitutional Court has rapped the security services on the knuckles for searching the offices of a political magazine to identify who leaked a confidential police report. In what media are hailing as a significant reaffirmation of press freedom in Germany, the court ruled that the search had breached the constitution which enshrines the right of journalists to protect their...

The Andhra Pradesh government is now looking for scapegoats after its controversial gag media order came in for trenchant criticism from all quarters. YSR Reddy was quick to announce an “inquiry” into the incident by chief secretary J Harinarayana. Sources told the Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) that axe was likely to fall on a couple of officials in the general administration department by Monday...