Ethics and Freedom

Sudan has lifted censorship of newspapers. National Intelligence and Security Service NISS Chief Mohamed Atta announced this on Saturday, according to the state-run Sundan Media Centre. NISS said it had observed that the "newspapers have committed to principles and guidelines set for publicity such as being précised (sic) on information set for publicity and observing national interest of the...

The High Court in Nis, in a defamation case against Serbian daily newspaper Narodnih Novina journalist Dragana Kocic and editor-in-chief Timosenko Milosavljevic, has ruled in favour of the defendants. Together, the two had been sentenced by the Court of First Instance to pay a fine of 1,000,000 Serbian dinars (approx. 10,800 EUR) for publishing an article using quotes from official documents - an...

A one-year jail sentence and fine of 5 million CFA francs has been slapped by an Abidjan criminal court on Traoré Médandjé, a leading reporter for the daily L'Intelligent d'Abidjan, on charges of defaming and trying to blackmail a former health ministry official. The case was prompted by an article headlined “Vavoua's illegal boutique clinics,” published on September 4, 2009, in which Médjandé...

A measure signed into law on Thursday by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will expand the powers of security agents and contribute to a climate of fear among government critics, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has said. The law grants the Federal Security Service (FSB) authority to detain for up to 15 days anyone suspected of planning a crime against Russian security, local and...

Criminal proceedings have been initiated in Dresden against two Leipzig journalists. The charges arise from articles written in news magazine Der Spiegel and in Zeit Online in 2008 on the “Saxony Corruption Quagmire” – a possible corruption affair that could have involved high-ranking members of the legal system. Ginzel and Datt were the authors of the Zeit Online report and co-authors of the...

Iran's deputy culture minister lashed out at Western media on Sunday, branding them "dishonest, cocky cheats," who will be banned from an annual press fair in the autumn, the ILNA news agency reported. "This year none of the Western media are allowed to participate in the fair," said Mohammad Ali Ramin, who is also a press watchdog official. "We have eliminated them, because Western media are...

China's General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) has voiced its support for journalists' rights of supervision after police in an east China county wrongly issued an arrest warrant for a journalist, official news agency Xinhua has reported. "News organisations have the right to know, interview, cover, criticise and monitor events regarding national and public interests. Journalistic...

The Press Information Bureau (PIB) has initiated steps to simplify accreditation procedures for foreign journalists in India, according to the Times of India. They will now be able to apply for it online from their respective countries even while applying for a visa, officials said. "We have taken steps to cut down on the time taken for security clearance," said Neelam Kapur, principal director...

An editor and several journalists of Shanghai's National Business Daily were attacked Friday by men claiming to work for a shampoo maker whose products have been alleged to contain toxic chemicals, the newspaper said. The newspaper's spokeswoman Xu Yuanyuan said police detained a man claiming to be a sales manager for BaWang International and three others after the attack at the newspapers' office...

The Federation of African Journalists (FAJ) has expressed concern at the growing tendency towards enactment and enforcement of more repressive, complicated legal sanctions against journalists. In Senegal, Cameroon, Tunisia and Burundi, journalists and their leaders face constant harassment and threats to their safety as part of a brazen campaign to curb the right to freedom of expression in Africa...