Ethics and Freedom

The International Press Freedom Mission has condemned a "culture of impunity and indifference" over killings and attacks on journalists in Sri Lanka. Since the beginning of the New Year, both the killing of a senior editor and the attack on the facilities of a popular independent TV channel have led to a total paralysis of the media community. Launching a new report, 'Media Under Fire: Press...

The Afghanistan prosecutor-general has decided to continue the detention of journalist Nazari Paryani, head of news pages on the daily Payman. He has been imprisoned at the remand jail in Kabul since January 13. “The newspaper mistakenly published an article containing ambiguous judgements about religions, but Nazari Paryani had no direct responsibility for this," Reporters sans Frontières (RSF)...

The editor of an Odessa newspaper has been found guilty of inciting ethnic hatred in Ukraine for writing an anti-Semitic article, Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) has reported. Ihor Volin-Danilov, an editor of Nashe Dyelo, received a suspended 18-month sentence for a 2007 article titled 'Kill the best of the goyim'. Volin-Danilov concluded in the story that the Jewish religion is “criminal and...

A Swiss lawyer working on behalf of the Iraqi journalist who threw shoes at US President George W Bush says his client will seek political asylum in Switzerland. Geneva-based lawyer Mauro Poggia says Muntadar al-Zaidi's life is in danger in Iraq, the Associated Press (AP) has reported. Al-Zaidi is currently in an Iraqi jail awaiting trial on charges of assaulting a foreign leader for his December...

The Vietnamese government has announced the imminent early release of journalist Nguyen Viet Chien of the daily Thanh Nien, who was sentenced to two years in prison on October 15, 2008 for “abusing democratic freedom to damage state interests”, after he investigated a major corruption scandal in 2006. Public security vice-minister Le The Tiem announced that he would be released on January 17 along...

A charge has been brought at the behest at interior minister Tomislav Karamarko against a journalist who writes about war crimes in the 1990s. Zeljko Peratovic is accused of “disseminating information likely to upset the population” under article 322/1 KZA of the criminal code, which carries a maximum sentence of a year in prison as well as a possible fine, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has...

The International News Safety Institute (INSI) has backed a call by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) for the United Nations to investigate the targeting of media by Israeli forces in Gaza. Israeli military actions in Gaza appear to amount to a clear violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1738 which demands all parties in armed conflict comply with their obligations under...

The proposed changes in the Cable Television Network Regulations Act have been put on hold after top editors of major television news channels unanimously agreed to oppose the proposed amendments. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday stepped in to assure news broadcasters that nothing would be finalised without "the widest possible consultation with all the stakeholders and eliciting their...

Ramazan Esergepov, editor in chief of the "Alma-Ata Info" newspaper, is continuing his hunger-strike in National Security Committee (KNB) custody and refusing to be interrogated, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) has reported. The report said: [ Link] His wife, Raushan Esergepova, told RFE/RL's Kazakh Service that her husband is insisting that a security service other than the KNB conduct...

Gaston Asseko, the technical director of radio Sainte-Marie, and three leading civil society members held in the same case were released provisionally on January 12, as was a police officer who was arrested with them. Tendance Gabon editor Léon Dieudonné Kougou, who was arrested with Asseko on December 30, was released provisionally on January 7, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported....