Ethics and Freedom

A murderer and sex offender has won a permanent ban against his picture appearing in the media in a landmark press freedom case in Northern Ireland, the Independent has reported. The High Court in Belfast ruled the Belfast Sunday Life, a sister paper of the Independent, could not publish unpixelated photos of Kenneth Callaghan. The paper had argued publishing the pictures would help the public...

A three-year prison sentence has been handed down to Lewis Medjo, managing editor of Cameroonian weekly La Détente libre, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. He has been in Douala central prison in the west of the country since September 22, 2008. Medjo was found guilty on January 7 of “spreading false news” and sentenced by the Douala court to three years in prison and a fine of two...

Nsimba Embete Ponte, the editor of biweekly L’Interprète was released on January 7 on completing a 10-month prison sentence for “insulting” DRC President Joseph Kabila by referring to rumours about his health in a series of articles, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. Arrested on March 7, 2008 in Kinshasa by members of the National Intelligence Agency (ANR), Ponte was held incommunicado...

Albanian authorities on Friday blocked the offices of the daily Tema, which recently published stories alleging official corruption, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Police in capital Tirana surrounded the premises, barring journalists from entering the building, the daily's publisher, Mero Baze, said in a statement posted on Tema's website. Baze said he called Tirana's...

The editors of two leading Vietnamese newspapers were fired on January 2, the latest in a series of measures by the Vietnamese government to stifle criticism and dissent, Human Rights Watch has reported. In December, the government announced strict new regulations banning internet blogs that disseminate politically sensitive content deemed subversive by the government. During the last three months...

Thai authorities have blocked 2,300 websites for allegedly insulting the country's monarchy, with 400 more awaiting a court order to restrict them, the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) has reported. The Economic Times Online quoted Information and Communication (ICT) Minister Ranongruk Suwanchawee as saying on January 6 that "The blocking of websites that disseminate content and pictures...

Mfomfo Nkambule, a columnist with the Times of Swaziland newspaper was censored by state police who interrogated him on January 5 over his weekly articles which are often critical of the king and his leadership, the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) has reported. Nkambule, an ex-cabinet minister and member of parliament but now chairperson of a political party known as Inhlava, was...

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) has condemned officials from Al-Ahram Press for their refusal to print the latest edition of the opposition weekly Sout al-Ummah, until its editor, Abdel Halim Kandil, had removed his article criticising Egypt President Hosni Mubarak and the country's stance on the crisis in Gaza. Sout al-Ummmah was finally published on January 5 after the...

Every lawsuit that has been brought by members of the Universal Church against journalist Elvira Lobato, who works for the Folha de São Paulo newspaper, has thus far been won by the journalist, the ssociação Brasileira de Jornalismo Investigativo (ABRAJI) has reported. Winner of the 2008 Esso Journalism Award, the most important prize given to Brazilian news people, the reporter was targeted with...

The Uruguayan Senate has approved a bill that provides for modifications to several articles of the country's press law, in addition to articles in the Criminal Code. The modifications include significant elements affecting defamation and the offence of "insult to authorities" (desacato), the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) has reported. The bill was unanimously approved...