State Control

Rwanda’s Media High Council on Tuesday suspended two independent weeklies just months prior to presidential elections. At a press conference, attended only by state broadcasters and the pro-government radio station Contact FM, the Media High Council announced an immediate six month suspension of private local language weeklies, Umuseso and Umuvugizi. The council accused Umuseso of insulting the...

The Thai government should restore access to news outlets censored after a state of emergency was declared Wednesday in response to antigovernment protests, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has said. Journalists reporting on the unrest are increasingly vulnerable to physical assault as clashes between protesters and authorities escalate. A number of opposition websites and at least one...

A draft decree in fiji proposes to regulate media ownership and news content, while authorising the imposition of fines and prison terms for violations, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has said. Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, who has maintained a supposedly temporary military rule since seizing power in a 2006 coup, announced the decree shortly before a compulsory three-day meeting...

Thirty-five journalists were imprisoned in Iran as of April 1 as authorities continued their nearly year-long crackdown on the news media, according to CPJ’s latest monthly census. Another 18 journalists were free on short-term furloughs granted for the Iranian New Year and were expected to report back to prison. Many of the incarcerated journalists are under immense physical and psychological...

A court has banned Israeli media coverage of the case of Anat Kam, an online journalist and former soldier accused of leaking classified military information, according to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). An appeal by Channel 10 and the daily Haaretz against the gag order is due to be heard by a Tel Aviv court on April 12. Kam’s arrest has been widely reported internationally. A contributor to the...

Authorities in Kyrgyzstan should halt their ongoing crackdown on independent and opposition news outlets, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has said. A Bishkek court suspended a pro-opposition newspaper on Wednesday—the third such suspension in March—while financial police confiscated newsroom computers belonging to an independent Web-based television channel on Thursday, effectively...

Tunisian authorities banned journalists from attending two press conferences for the launch of local and international human rights reports this week, and is stepping up harassment of journalists overall, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has said. On Wednesday, police ordered journalists not to attend a press conference at a law office in Tunis where Human Rights Watch was planning to...

The Kyrgyz government has pressured several radio and television stations to stop carrying programming from the Kyrgyz service of the US government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has said. Four private radio stations and one television channel in northern Kyrgyzstan—including two outlets in the capital, Bishkek—halted RFE/RL programming...

The Jordanian State Security Court last week banned news media from covering corruption allegations involving the Jordan Petroleum Refinery Company and several leading national figures, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has said. Yousef Faouri, attorney-general at the State Security Court, issued an order on March 9 banning the press from reporting or commenting on the case without his...

Yemeni authorities have seized equipment that enable the pan-Arab satellite news channels Al-Arabiya and Al-Jazeera to broadcast live from the country, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Security forces raided the Sana’a offices of Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya on Thursday, according to news reports and CPJ interviews. The move came after both channels had broadcast clashes...