Ethics and Freedom

NEW DELHI: In a bid to restore balance between free speech and fair trial, the Law Commission on Thursday came up with a set of controversial proposals to rein in what it called "trial by media". Reacting to aggressive coverage of crime stories, the commission recommended that the media be barred from reporting anything prejudicial to an accused, right from the time he is arrested in the course of...

Investigative reporters toil in hidden corners, digging through court records, meeting anonymous whistle blowers in nondescript cafes. It is not uncommon for them to spend a year on a report that makes the front page for only a day or two. They can effect profound policy change, but their jobs usually don’t bring much personal glory. Now some investigative teams will get their “All the President’s...

UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia has found a Croatian journalist in contempt for publishing sealed documents. The Hague-based tribunal fined Josip Jovic, a former editor-in-chief of the Croatian daily newspaper Slobodna Dalmacija, $25,612, said a judgment issued Wednesday. In a series of articles appearing in November and December 2000...

(WMR) Aug. 28, 2006 -- SPECIAL REPORT FROM EUROPE. Information visas (I-Visa) -- a Bush administration method for controlling the foreign media's coverage of the United States. You're a foreign journalist and you want to visit the United States to cover a story. If you think it is as easy as hopping on an airplane, even if you are a citizen or resident of a visa-waiver country, guess again...

A month before the war in Lebanon broke out, the Al Jazeera channel began filming documentary programs, which have not yet been broadcast, about life in Israel and, among other things, the Hebrew press. In an interview that a reporter for the channel conducted with me, she read out questions that had been dictated by the office in Amman and the editorial desk in Qatar. I told her the Israeli press...

TEHRAN, Aug. 24 — The title of the show is “Holocaust International Cartoon Contest,” or “Holocust,” as the show’s organizers spell the word in promotional material. But the content has little to do with the events of World War II and Nazi Germany. There is instead a drawing of a Jew with a very large nose, a nose so large it obscures his entire head. Across his chest is the word Holocaust...

A Beijing court on Friday morning unexpectedly dismissed a state secrets charge against a researcher for the New York Times but sentenced him to three years in prison on a lesser, unrelated charge of fraud, the newspaper has reported. The verdict against researcher Zhao Yan, 44, spared him a prison sentence of 10 years or longer and also served as a blunt rebuke to the investigation by state...

Press freedom organisations have called for the release of Straits Times reporter Ching Cheong, who has being tried in a closed-door proceeding in Beijing. His trial on espionage charges began on August 15 and ended late that afternoon without an immediate verdict. "We have seen no evidence that Ching Cheong has committed a crime, and we call for his immediate release," Committee to Protect...

Maldivian journalist Jennifer Latheef who was serving a 10-year jail term for terrorism has been pardoned by the government. Latheef has, however, rejected the presidential pardon. ACCUSED OF TERRORISM: The Maldives government announced Jennifer Latheef’s release on August 16. She was jailed for 10 years in October 2005 after being convicted of inciting a riot in 2003. International human rights...

The Government issued a stern warning to the media not to put the probe into the alleged terror plot at risk by publishing information about suspects. In a joint statement, Home Secretary John Reid and Attorney General Lord Goldsmith called for "considerable restraint" to avoid prejudicing any future trials. It singled out the use of photographs and speculation over individuals' links and...