Ethics and Freedom

A journalist discharging his/her professional duties cannot be subjected to humiliation or ill-treatment by police merely because something has been written against them, the Madras High Court has observed. Quashing a 'history sheet' opened against M Rajkumar, reporter of Udzal Echerrikkai magazine and a publisher, Justice N Paul Vasanthakumar on Friday held that if any damage was caused to a...

Bahraini authorities have pressed charges against Mohammed al-Sawad, a reporter for the independent daily Al-Bilad, who is accused of violating a government-imposed gag order, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. The order was issued in the case of former minister of state, Mansour bin Rajab, who was dismissed in March after a year-long investigation into alleged money...

Hungary’s ruling party Fidesz on Monday announced a decision to delay a vote on a number of media bills which critics have warned constitute a throwback to state control in the former Soviet satellite state. Hungary’s parliament was due to vote on Monday on the proposed creation of a powerful Media Council – strongly criticised by opposition politicians and journalists – which would operate within...

A legislative committee in Pakistan has forwarded a bill to the National Assembly that would restrict coverage “of suicide bombers, terrorists, bodies of victims of terrorism, statements and pronouncements of militants and extremist elements and other acts which, may, in any way, promote, aid or abet terrorists or terrorism.” According to The News International, the report of the committee was...

A 70-year-old Panamanian journalist was arrested and jailed Saturday on a 2008 defamation conviction, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has said. The charges against Carlos Núñez López, stemmed from a 2005 story in the now-defunct weekly newspaper La Crónica about environmental damage in the province of Bocas del Toro, his lawyer, Luis Ferreyra, told CPJ. A landowner alleged his...

A controversial law curbing wiretaps and imposing heavy fines on journalists who publish leaked ‘wiretap’ material was passed recently by the Italian Senate. The president of the Italian Senate announced that the much-debated wiretap law had been approved by the Senate with 164 votes in favour. Of a total 323 senators, only 189 were in the room when the bill was voted on. Representatives of the...

A new Fijian media decree that formalizes repressive government control of the media could force the outspoken Fiji Times to close within three months, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Fiji Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum announced at a press conference Monday that the Media Industry Development Decree, drafted in April, is now in effect. The decree requires all media...

Lebanon is planning a repressive technology bill that would restrict press freedom and free expression, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The bill focuses largely on electronic business transactions, including security and contractual issues. The legislation is seen as important among officials and business people who cite a need for Lebanon to adopt generally accepted...

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on the Egyptian Minister of Finance, Youssef Boutros-Ghali, to drop charges against Wael al-Abrashy, the editor-in-chief of the weekly Sawt al-Umma, and Samar al-Dawi, a reporter for the weekly. In January, al-Abrashy mounted an editorial campaign to oppose a new and controversial property tax law, which would require property owners to submit...

Syrian authorities are still holding freelance journalist Ali al-Abdallah even after he completed a 30-month prison sentence in Damascus, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Ali al-Abdallah, who has regularly written for numerous prominent Arabic-language newspapers outside Syria, was supposed to be released on June 17 but a military court informed him that he will be given...