State Control

Two journalists from the Moscow-based broadcast outlet Russia Today were arrested on November 20 while covering a protest against the US military training centre formerly known as the "School of the Americas" at Fort Benning, Georgia. On-air correspondent Kaelyn Forde and cameraman Jon Conway, both of who are US citizens, were charged with unlawful assembly, demonstrating without a permit, and...

There has been an increasing climate of hostility for Spanish journalists in Morocco, highlighted by official measures to prevent Spanish journalists from covering clashes in the Western Sahara, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. On Monday, 10 Spanish journalists were prevented from reaching the Saharan city of Laayoune, which is part of an ongoing territorial...

Burma must immediately release Toru Yamaji, a reporter with Tokyo-based APF news agency, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) hasdemanded. Yamaji, 49, was detained Sunday in Myawaddy, on the country's eastern border with Thailand while trying to cover the country's first elections in two decades, according to international media reports, which quoted Japan's embassy in Rangoon...

Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has called on the Syrian authorities to abandon an Internet communications bill that was drafted at the behest of Prime Minister Mohammad Naji Otri and was approved by the cabinet last week. If adopted by parliament, it is likely to have a serious impact on online free expression, which is already limited in Syria. Syria is on the RSF...

A bill was adopted by the Bulgarian cabinet on October 20 that would amend the criminal code section dealing with “crimes against the national and racial equality” of the country’s citizens. Prompted by Council of Europe recommendations, it would increase the penalties for discriminatory statements in the media to four years in prison and a fine of 5,000 to 19,000 levas (2,000 to 5,000 euros)...

Iraqi authorities have decided to close down Al-Baghdadia TV offices in Iraq. The closure of the Cairo-based satellite channel was announced after it broadcast the demands of gunmen who attacked a church in Baghdad on Sunday, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Fifty-eight people were killed during the siege, according to news reports. On Monday, security forces...

Moroccan authorities have decided to to indefinitely suspend Al-Jazeera's reporting in Morocco. The government withdrew accreditations from Al-Jazeera staff, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. On Friday, the Ministry of Communications accused Al-Jazeera of not following "the rules of responsible and serious journalistic work." According to a statement...

Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) says it has received several calls from journalists complaining of the difficulties they have had in covering the ongoing street protests against the government’s pension reform plans. A Canal+ reporter was hit repeatedly by members of the CRS riot police in Paris on October 17. On the grounds of an alleged “invasion of the privacy”...

The pressure used by the US and Iraqi authorities in an attempt to prevent the website Wikileaks from releasing about 400,000 “classified” US military documents about the war in Iraq was both absurd and contrary to the principle of access to public information, Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has said. The documents shed light on the scale of the violence that the...

CPJ is concerned by Vietnamese authorities' recent crackdown against several bloggers and one print journalist. On Monday, police arrested Phan Thanh Hai, a blogger who writes under the name Anh Ba Saigon (Saigon Brother Three), after raiding his Ho Chi Minh City home, according to Agence France-Presse. Police seized his desktop and laptop computers, along with documents he had printed from the...