Ethics and Freedom

Suspended sentences of three years in prison and fines of 80,000 dirhams (7,200 euros) were handed down by a Casablanca court on 15 January 2007 on Driss Ksikes, editor of the Arabic-language weekly “Nichane”, and one of his journalists, Sanaa Elaji, for attacking Islam and traditional morals in a feature about Moroccan humour. The court also ordered “Nichane” to be closed for two months. “We are...

New Delhi, Jan. 12 (PTI): Two Indian TV channels censured by the government for airing footage depicting a man dressed as Mahatma Gandhi performing a pole-dance today expressed regret for their action, saying they aired the video to expose how the father of the nation was being insulted. "...our intention is not to denigrate the honour of our father of the nation, but to ensure action on the...

NEW DELHI: The South Asia Free Media Association (SAFMA), the SAARC-recognised body of journalists, on Thursday facilitated the formation of five national press commissions as well as a regional South Asia Press Commission. N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu , will head the India Press Commission, which will have 25 members. Eminent journalists S. Nihal Singh, B.G. Verghese, Vinod Dua, Kumar...

New Delhi: In what could be a good news for Media organisations across the country, the South Asia Free Media Association (SAFMA), the SAARC-recognised body of journalists, on Thursday announced the formation of a Press Commission for India. The Commission will be charged with the task of protecting free flow of information and promoting cooperation in the region in an atmosphere of tolerance and...

Reporters Without Borders has voiced dismay at the sentences of three to five years in prison and bans on working as journalists that the state prosecutor requested on 8 January 2007 in Casablanca at the start of the trial of Driss Ksikes, editor of the Arabic-language weekly “Nichane”, and one of his journalists, Sanaa Elaji, on charges of “damaging Islam” and “publishing and distributing...

It has to choose between commerce and credibility. Newspapers, the earliest form of the media, have been around in some sort of a way as long as the printing press. In Elizabethan London, they took the form of pamphlets filled with grisly tales of murder, executions, witchcraft and “monstrous” creatures. Political news was absent as it was considered “dull and boring”. The world’s oldest surviving...

The publisher of the independent Moroccan weekly Le Journal Hebdomadaire and a former reporter have been ordered to pay the record damages awarded earlier this year in a controversial defamation suit. Publisher Aboubakr Jamaï said the award could jeopardize the magazine’s survival. Jamaï told CPJ that two court officials visited Le Journal’s Casablanca office on December 18 and gave him and former...

Tamil Nadu's politics of television channels is now rubbing off on neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. The YS Rajasekhara Reddy-led Congress government in the state is at loggerheads with the state's largest media group Eenadu, accused of being the mouthpiece of the opposition Telugu Desam. The latest salvo: state sanction for legal action against Rao and Eenadu Daily for an article against Home Minister...

More than 100,000 glossy magazines consigned to the shredder, an editor who says he had no other choice but to resign "in disgust", and one of the publishing world's most famous names scrambling to protect its reputation. And all to appease Russia's richest woman. As media scandals go, the latest brouhaha to hit the Russian edition of Forbes, the capitalist's bible, has it all and if the world...

Mumbai, Dec 14: Warning a section of media which put out "agenda-driven" news, market regulator SEBI today said it would tighten its leash on such media to protect interests of the investing public. "We will find a way to deal with this type of news in the interest of average investors," SEBI Chairman M Damodaran said after inaugurating the ticker showing BSE's live quotes and a video screen at...